Call for NCESS Submissions: Reliability and system strength services for Eastern Goldfields region

⁠⁠⁠The Coordinator of Energy has determined, under clause 3.11A.4 of the Wholesale Electricity Market (WEM) Rules, to trigger a non-co-optimised Essential System Services (NCESS) procurement process for reliability and system strength services for the Eastern Goldfields region.

Following an outage impacting the EGF the Minister for Energy (Minister) and Energy Policy WA (EPWA) have been considering the need for improvements in reliability of the network in the Eastern Goldfields (EGF) region and have engaged Western Power and AEMO to consider options.

Due to the distance and anticipated cost involved in building a second transmission supply to the EGF, Western Power has identified that one option to deliver improved reliability to the EGF region in the short to medium term may be through an NCESS.

This is the Call for NCESS Submissions seeking responses from potential NCESS providers to determine the most cost-effective option to improve reliability of the network in the EGF region if the Minister proposes amendments to the minimum reliability standards.

Western Power is seeking:

1. The Reliability Service (measured in MW of response capability) is to minimise power supply disruption during planned and unplanned network outage events impacting the EGF; and

2. The System Strength Service (measured in MVA of available fault level) is to maintain voltage stability, power quality obligations and sufficiently high fault levels for intact network conditions, or as a result of planned or unplanned outages.

A prospective NCESS provider may offer either a reliability service or a system strength service, or both, that can fully or partially meet the relevant service requirements.

The preferred date for the commencement of the proposed services is 1st October 2026. However, Western Power is willing to consider services to be provided no later than 1st October 2027.

Queries may be submitted by email to emerging.technology.portfolio@westernpower.com.au or via Q&A function in this portal.

The key dates for the Call for NCESS Submissions are as below:

• Call for NCESS Submissions : Monday, 24 June 2024
• Cut-off date for questions from service providers : Monday, 22 July 2024 by 5:00pm AWST
• Cut-off date for Western Power to answer service providers’ questions: Monday, 29 July 2024