New issues on reliable and efficient operation of the National Electricity Market of Australia

The Australian national electricity market (NEM) has been in operation for almost 10 years. It is so far one of the successful electricity market models in the world without major energy crisis so far. However, with the global trend in renewable initiative and concerns of sustainable development, NEM, like many other electricity markets worldwide is also facing a number of new challenges in this respect. In this paper, a general review will be given on some of the key new issues on the reliable and efficient operation of the Australian NEM. These include greenhouse issues, emission trading issues, market efficiency issues, market planning issues in the NEM and emergency control issues of the NEM power grid.