HomeV1

The challenge

Four challenges facing power generation owners

Compliance

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) demands owners have 24×7 control of their plant – even a solar farm. And the staff who control that plant and communicate with AEMO must be Australian based. Overseas control rooms are not accepted by AEMO for real-time NEM operations. All plants must also follow dispatch targets and if material deviations are not corrected in real time then costs will accrue and penalties may apply.

To navigate the complexity and structure of the NEM, ensuring compliance with legal and commercial protocols, as an energy asset generation owner you need the experience of Overwatch.

Complexity

The NEM is a complex blend of physics and market forces governed by detailed and ever-evolving rules and guidance. Previously, power sector professionals accrued years of knowledge and experience to understand the intricacies of things like: constraint equations, semi-dispatch caps, bidding rules and Frequency Control Ancillary Services (FCAS) calculations.

The requirements of the NEM are complex and ever changing and to succeed in the NEM, owners need deep and long standing experience which is not acquired overnight. You get there faster with the experience of Overwatch.

Under-Performance

Many new entrants have not met their expected returns on investment. However, and contrary to what some may report, it is possible to influence many aspects of the revenue and the costs associated with operating wind, solar or storage.

For commercial success, you need to know exactly why they may be losing revenue, why your costs may be high and what you can do to improve the situation. Improvement is what the experience of Overwatch brings.

Cost

There are power sector professionals in Australia with decades of operational experience and there are businesses with compliant systems. Hiring that experience and creating 24×7 capability is prohibitively expensive even for a mid-sized portfolio and makes no sense for owners of even three or four assets.

Energy asset owners need a cost-effective way to access 24×7 power sector experience and expertise that works in your best interests. The fastest way to get that experience is by using Overwatch.

The solution

Overwatch Energy Experience

What Overwatch does

We provide what we call NEM Operations, to grid-connected wind, solar and storage, from utility through to VPP scale.

Overwatch becomes the interface between the asset, the market and AEMO and in doing so ensures compliance with the Rules.

Overwatch then monitors plant output in real-time, sees deviations from forecast real-time and responds quickly to minimise client losses and mitigate costs. Overwatch also re-bids plant where it makes commercial sense – in line with a strategy pre-agreed with the owner. Overwatch also invests heavily in reporting and time with clients.

And with our shared operations model, Overwatch provides this 24×7 capability backed by decades of experience at a fraction of what it would cost any single organisation.

How Overwatch delivers

Overwatch operates a genuine 24×7 operations function that is staffed by power sector professionals who all work in Australia.

Our systems and processes are fully digitised and we take whatever hardware, software or data our client already has and pull that into our own cloud-based systems. We compile their information alongside our market data and set up warnings and alarms appropriate to them.

We typically work for owners or asset managers and co-ordinate with the existing O&M contractors. We are independent of developers, asset managers, OEMs, PPA off-takers or bidding software vendors so our advice is impartial.