Gavan Mc Donell - National Electricity Market

National Electricity Market

In the late 1990s and early 2000s McDonell provided the economic direction for a series of studies, generally in conjunction with Intelligent Energy Systems (IES) (www.iesys.com.au), of policy and structural issues in the National Electricity Market (NEM). Several of these produced notable innovations. They included: -Analyses of the importance of the role of interconnectors between regional and State power grids and the technical and economic issues involved. -The introduction of the ancillary services markets,. McDonell designed the economic principles for the ancillary markets: the system has led to large cost savings and greater stability control for the whole 4000 km national grid, probably the longest, single-operator system in the world. It was claimed by the official regulators to be a world first. - In 2003, as the expert member of the National Electricity Tribunal, the industry's appeals body for the review of major regulatory decisions, he gave the minority decision on the controversial Murraylink/SNI process which had taken 6 years. His decision led to reconstruction of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's Regulatory Test, the key guideline on major transmission network investments.