Tuesday 21 July 2026
Trading day 2026-07-21
NEM daily average prices rise eighteen percent amid higher regional volatility
Regional average prices ranged from 71.4 dollars in Tasmania to 96.7 dollars in South Australia. New South Wales saw the highest single price peak of 207.9 dollars, while Victoria was the only region to enter negative territory with a minimum of -1.1 dollars.
Total energy consumption was led by New South Wales at 412.5 gigawatt hours, followed by Victoria and Queensland. Demand peaks occurred predominantly in the evening across the mainland, with South Australia peaking latest at 18:55.
Renewable energy sources contributed 37.1 percent of total generation, hitting an instantaneous peak of 61.2 percent at midday. Wind and combined solar provided 11.4 percent and 15.5 percent respectively, while hydro generation added 8.7 percent to the mix.
Battery storage systems discharged 19,551 megawatt hours to the grid, resulting in a net consumption of 2,290 megawatt hours. FCAS costs remained low across all services, with the highest daily cost of 28,158 dollars recorded for Raise Regulation in Tasmania.
Today · Forward schedules indicate a peak price of 319.04 dollars in Queensland at 19:30 and 145.00 dollars in South Australia at 18:30.
Why it matters · The daily average price of 88.0 dollars sits 18.5 percent above the weekly average, extending a volatile trend established over the last three days. This price elevation occurred despite a high instantaneous renewable peak of 61.2 percent and significant battery discharge volumes.
Prices
Trading day · 04:00 → 04:00 AEST · 30-min average
| Region | Avg | VWAP | Min | Max | Neg | Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NSW | $94 | $97 | $46 | $208 | 0 | 0 |
| QLD | $76 | $78 | $12 | $133 | 0 | 0 |
| SA | $97 | $99 | $28 | $171 | 0 | 0 |
| VIC | $77 | $81 | -$1 | $188 | 4 | 0 |
| TAS | $71 | $74 | $2 | $167 | 0 | 0 |
Min · Max are 5-minute dispatch extremes; the price chart plots 30-minute averages, so its peak reads lower.
Demand
FCAS
| Service | Cost | Spikes | Peak | When |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RAISEREG | $3,623 | 0 | $11 | 22 July, 00:50 |
| LOWERREG | $390 | 0 | $3 | 21 July, 11:40 |
| RAISE6SEC | $161 | 0 | $0 | 21 July, 08:15 |
| RAISE60SEC | $116 | 0 | $0 | 21 July, 07:20 |
| LOWER60SEC | $64 | 0 | $0 | 21 July, 13:05 |
| RAISE5MIN | $49 | 0 | $0 | 21 July, 07:20 |
| LOWER5MIN | $30 | 0 | $0 | 21 July, 12:15 |
| LOWER6SEC | $25 | 0 | $0 | 21 July, 13:05 |
| Total | $4,459 | |||
Cost = NSW RRP × cleared MW per 5-min interval.
| Service | Cost | Spikes | Peak | When |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RAISEREG | $4,873 | 0 | $11 | 22 July, 00:50 |
| LOWERREG | $1,365 | 0 | $3 | 21 July, 11:40 |
| RAISE6SEC | $350 | 0 | $0 | 21 July, 08:15 |
| RAISE60SEC | $198 | 0 | $0 | 21 July, 07:20 |
| LOWER60SEC | $174 | 0 | $0 | 21 July, 13:05 |
| RAISE5MIN | $50 | 0 | $0 | 21 July, 07:20 |
| LOWER5MIN | $44 | 0 | $0 | 21 July, 12:15 |
| LOWER6SEC | $33 | 0 | $0 | 21 July, 13:05 |
| Total | $7,085 | |||
Cost = QLD RRP × cleared MW per 5-min interval.
| Service | Cost | Spikes | Peak | When |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RAISEREG | $6,974 | 0 | $11 | 22 July, 00:50 |
| LOWERREG | $1,084 | 0 | $3 | 21 July, 11:40 |
| RAISE6SEC | $281 | 0 | $0 | 21 July, 08:15 |
| RAISE60SEC | $249 | 0 | $0 | 21 July, 07:20 |
| RAISE5MIN | $84 | 0 | $0 | 21 July, 07:20 |
| LOWER60SEC | $70 | 0 | $0 | 21 July, 13:05 |
| LOWER5MIN | $26 | 0 | $0 | 21 July, 12:15 |
| LOWER6SEC | $19 | 0 | $0 | 21 July, 13:05 |
| Total | $8,787 | |||
Cost = VIC RRP × cleared MW per 5-min interval.
| Service | Cost | Spikes | Peak | When |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RAISEREG | $4,621 | 0 | $11 | 22 July, 00:50 |
| LOWERREG | $2,101 | 0 | $3 | 21 July, 11:40 |
| RAISE6SEC | $319 | 0 | $0 | 21 July, 08:15 |
| RAISE60SEC | $234 | 0 | $0 | 21 July, 07:20 |
| LOWER60SEC | $123 | 0 | $0 | 21 July, 13:05 |
| RAISE5MIN | $80 | 0 | $0 | 21 July, 07:20 |
| LOWER5MIN | $51 | 0 | $0 | 21 July, 12:15 |
| LOWER6SEC | $49 | 0 | $0 | 21 July, 13:05 |
| Total | $7,578 | |||
Cost = SA RRP × cleared MW per 5-min interval.
| Service | Cost | Spikes | Peak | When |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RAISEREG | $8,067 | 0 | $14 | 21 July, 15:50 |
| LOWERREG | $1,856 | 0 | $9 | 22 July, 02:25 |
| RAISE6SEC | $51 | 0 | $0 | 21 July, 13:20 |
| RAISE60SEC | $51 | 0 | $0 | 21 July, 13:20 |
| RAISE5MIN | $0 | 0 | $0 | 21 July, 07:20 |
| LOWER6SEC | $0 | 0 | $0 | 21 July, 13:05 |
| LOWER60SEC | $0 | 0 | $0 | 21 July, 13:05 |
| LOWER5MIN | $0 | 0 | $0 | 21 July, 12:15 |
| Total | $10,026 | |||
Cost = TAS RRP × cleared MW per 5-min interval.
Battery dispatch
Peak moment
Fleet discharged 1,486 MW at 17:30 as NSW spot hit $116/MWh.
Peak moment
Fleet discharged 1,225 MW at 18:00 as QLD spot hit $106/MWh.
Peak moment
Fleet discharged 794 MW at 07:30 as VIC spot hit $148/MWh.
Peak moment
Fleet discharged 349 MW at 08:00 as SA spot hit $134/MWh.
Peak moment
Fleet discharged 3,564 MW at 18:00 as TAS spot hit $95/MWh.
Fleet net dispatch · spot-price overlay · 30-min average
Regional dispatch ranking
| Region | Discharged | Net |
|---|---|---|
#1NSW | 8,364MWh | -850 |
#2QLD | 5,376MWh | -625 |
#3VIC | 4,391MWh | -887 |
#4SA | 1,422MWh | +72 |
Generation Mix
- Coal66.7% · 144.6 GWh
- Gas0.6% · 1.3 GWh
- Hydro3.5% · 7.6 GWh
- Wind3.6% · 7.8 GWh
- Solar (utility)10.7% · 23.3 GWh
- Solar (rooftop)11.0% · 23.8 GWh
- Battery3.9% · 8.4 GWh
- Coal63.0% · 128.1 GWh
- Gas2.8% · 5.6 GWh
- Hydro2.3% · 4.6 GWh
- Wind11.2% · 22.8 GWh
- Solar (utility)9.1% · 18.5 GWh
- Solar (rooftop)8.7% · 17.7 GWh
- Battery2.6% · 5.4 GWh
- Other0.4% · 0.8 GWh
- Coal60.8% · 115.1 GWh
- Gas2.3% · 4.4 GWh
- Hydro8.4% · 15.8 GWh
- Wind18.2% · 34.4 GWh
- Solar (utility)2.6% · 5.0 GWh
- Solar (rooftop)5.4% · 10.3 GWh
- Battery2.3% · 4.4 GWh
- Gas49.6% · 17.4 GWh
- Wind26.6% · 9.3 GWh
- Solar (utility)5.0% · 1.8 GWh
- Solar (rooftop)14.6% · 5.1 GWh
- Battery4.1% · 1.4 GWh
- Other0.2% · 0.1 GWh
- Gas10.9% · 4.4 GWh
- Hydro78.5% · 31.8 GWh
- Wind9.6% · 3.9 GWh
- Solar (rooftop)0.9% · 0.4 GWh
Renewables
- NSW 28.2%
- VIC 39.0%
- QLD 38.8%
- SA 39.4%
- TAS 113.0%
Interconnectors
| Region (proxy) | Net flow | Direction changes | Hours at limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| N-Q-MNSP1 | +37.6 GWh | 0 | — |
| NSW1-QLD1 | −54.5 GWh | 6 | — |
| VIC1-NSW1 | +25.4 GWh | 24 | — |
| V-SA | −20.4 GWh | 4 | — |
| T-V-MNSP1 | +17.7 GWh | 0 | — |
Per-region net of NETINTERCHANGE proxied to a representative interconnector. Full per-interconnector decomposition + hours-at-limit needs DINTERCONNECTOR parsing (follow-up).
Emissions
| NSW | 127.0k tCO₂ | 0.572 tCO₂/MWh |
| QLD | 115.0k tCO₂ | 0.559 tCO₂/MWh |
| SA | 8.6k tCO₂ | 0.240 tCO₂/MWh |
| VIC | 139.4k tCO₂ | 0.733 tCO₂/MWh |
| TAS | 2.7k tCO₂ | 0.067 tCO₂/MWh |