Dispatchable power and dispatchable internet of things

The National Electricity Market in Australia experiences periods where more electricity is supplied than is needed, and periods where demand exceeds the available supply. 

"Dispatchable power" has been mentioned as a partial remedy to the latter periods.

The ability to remotely turn off rooftop solar PV systems and air conditioners has been mentioned as a partial remedy to the former periods. 

A more flexible solution is available, one echoes a feature in operating systems design, where hundreds of concurrent processes queue to use scarce resources and relinquish them when finished or surrendered.

Appliances and devices can be equipped with smart switches that send one of several status signals to distributed National Electricity Market management systems: 

• "I am not currently consuming electricity, but can if requested."
• "I am currently consuming electricity, but can pause if requested."
• "I am not currently sending electricity to the grid, but can if requested."
• "I am currently sending electricity to the grid, but can pause if requested."

The appropriate subset of status signalling, and the ability to respond to a request, can be incorporated into existing devices, including:

• Hot Water Storage systems,
• Home Battery Energy Storage systems,
• Pool pumps and heaters,
• Air conditioners,
• Rooftop solar PV systems, and
• Electric Vehicles.

There is a substantial cost in not having this approach to managing the National Electricity Market. 

In November 2024, over $700 million was paid by retailers in NSW for electricity used in just 7 hours and 40 minutes. This was more than the total paid for ALL the electricity the retailers purchased for the entire remainder of the month.

This pushed to average electricity price for NSW in November 2024 to $263.46 per megawatt hour (MWh). 

In December 2024, with fewer extreme price periods, the average wholesale price for NSW was only $164.72 per megawatt hour (MWh).

The National Electricity Market compels consumers to pay exorbitant prices for electricity

It would have helped if any electricity consumed in those 7 hours and 40 minutes with exceptionally high prices in NSW in November 2024 could have been postponed by just 5 or 10 minutes. 

There were also far more periods when the National Electricity Market price was exceptionally low. 

If more electricity had been consumed in those periods, avoiding the need to consume in other periods with higher prices, the average cost of electricity could be further reduced.

See "How to lower the price of electricity" for more analysis of data from the National Electricity Market.