Australia's natural gas-fired power output slumps to 16-year low
27/04/2021 23:18
(Repeats story from overnight, no changes to text)
By Sonali Paul
MELBOURNE, April 28 (Reuters) - Australia's gas-fired power
output plunged to a 16-year low in the March quarter because of
rising natural gas prices, lower power demand and competition
from renewable energy, the country's energy market operator said
on Wednesday.
The decline calls into question the Australian government's
plans to potentially build a new gas-fired power plant to
replace a coal-fired plant due to shut in 2023, to keep a lid on
power prices.
Amid opposition from the power industry and green groups,
the government has said it would build the gas-fired plant if
the private sector fails to approve 1,000 megawatts (MW) of
power projects by the end of April to replace supply from AGL
Energy's AGL.AX Liddell coal-fired plant. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2GC1HR
Gas-fired power generation dropped 41% to an average of
1,122 MW in the March quarter, the lowest quarterly average
since 2005, continuing a trend of low gas-powered generation
(GPG), the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) said in a
quarterly report.
"This trend has been driven by low NEM (National Electricity
Market) spot prices ... coupled with increasing wholesale gas
prices, and reduced thermal unit outages, which has rendered GPG
uneconomic in some NEM regions," AEMO said.
Spot wholesale power prices fell to their lowest
first-quarter average since 2012, as demand for cooling fell
during a mild southern hemisphere summer.
The market also faced increasing spells of prices below zero
because of an abundance of solar and wind power, AEMO said.
The biggest price drops were in the country's two most
populous states. In New South Wales, prices sank to A$38
($29.59) per megawatt hour (MWh) from A$86, and in Victoria they
fell to A$25 per MWh from A$79, AEMO said.
The lower prices have dented earnings for the country's top
power producers - AGL Energy, Origin Energy ORG.AX and
EnergyAustralia, owned by Hong Kong's CLP Holdings 0002.HK .
($1 = 1.2842 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Sonali Paul)
((Sonali.Paul@thomsonreuters.com; +61 407 119 523;))