CS Energy has worked cooperatively with the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) to improve its compliance with national electricity laws and rules relating to Frequency Control Ancillary Services (FCAS).
CS Energy is one of many market participants that provide FCAS to the National Electricity Market (NEM) to help maintain the stability of the electricity grid.
CS Energy self-reported to the AER instances where it had offered contingency FCAS to the market that were not fully delivered in accordance with the market operator’s technical specifications.
The self-reporting related to instances on 25 August 2018 (from Callide Power Station Unit B2) and on several occasions between November 2019 and January 2020 (from Gladstone Power Station Unit 1).
CS Energy CEO Andrew Bills said CS Energy worked hard to be a responsible and compliant market participant, and was extremely disappointed that the incidents relating to the Callide and Gladstone power stations had occurred.
“Consistent with our values, CS Energy self-reported these matters to the AER and has co-operated with the AER in a transparent manner throughout its investigations,” Mr Bills said.
“We believe that market regulation is working as it is designed and that CS Energy has acted safely and with integrity for the benefit of the power system as a whole.”
Mr Bills said the FCAS non-compliances occurred due to a combination of systems and human error, and did not impact system stability.
“CS Energy has since improved its systems, processes and training in response to these events and has implemented remedial actions to minimise the risk of these or other issues arising again.”
CS Energy has paid the infringement notices issued by the AER in relation to these events.
CS Energy has also repaid AEMO the relevant contingency FCAS revenues in relation to Gladstone Power Station and Callide Power Station.