New GPS requirement for Australia’s WEM Market Participants
March 11, 2021

Shane Kerr & Stephen Bex

​In February this year AEMO, the Australian Energy Market Operator, introduced new requirements for Market Participants with an existing Arrangement for Access to the Wholesale Energy Market (WEM). These changes are aligned with the connection process in the National Electricity Market (NEM), and standardize the level of technical detail required in connection agreements.

Under the changes, Market Participants will need to provide connection data in the prescribed format: the GPS (Generator Performance Standard). The GPS template is quite detailed, meaning that many generators will need to undertake additional modeling in order to fill in the template.

All relevant generators will need to have a Registered GPS in place by the end of January 2022.

PSC has been helping clients connect to the NEM since its inception. We also continue to provide due diligence services and advice to AEMO for new connections. This gives us a deep understanding of AEMO’s requirements for Market Participants, the GPS template and associated modeling requirements.

We help our clients comply with GPS requirements by:

  • Modeling their current generator and associated control systems (PSSE, PSCAD and PowerFactory)
  • Assessment of the generator performance against the NEM/WEM requirements
  • Model validation through on-site testing and overlaying test results with model simulations
  • Reviewing existing performance standards and transferring the data into the required template

Our deep understanding of AEMO’s requirements, and our extensive experience with GPS, help our clients save time and money in achieving compliance.

If you’re not sure whether you’re affected by these changes in the WEM, or you are and need some help, please get in touch.