IRCR Watch
Your capacity charge for the whole year is set on a handful of hot summer afternoons. We tell you which ones, in time to do something about it.
Your capacity charge for the whole year is set on a handful of hot summer afternoons. We tell you which ones, in time to do something about it.
What it is
In the WEM, a large customer's Individual Reserve Capacity Requirement is derived from their demand across a small number of peak trading intervals over the summer. Be running hard through those intervals and you carry the cost for the following capacity year. IRCR Watch runs through the summer peak season: we watch the market and the weather, and when an afternoon looks like it will count, we tell you - with enough notice for your site to act.
What acting looks like
- Shut down air conditioning before the building empties for the day
- Drop non-essential load through the peak window
- Defer a shift, a pump run or a batch until the evening
- Start your own generator or battery so less is drawn from the grid
Most of the time it is simply turning load off for a few hours.
We watch, and we tell you. We do not operate, dispatch or control your generator, battery or load - the decision, and the action, are always yours.
What you get
- Alerts through the summer peak season with our view of the risk, the window to watch and how much notice you have
- A simple action list agreed with you up front so nobody is improvising on the day
- A post-season review of what was called and what it meant for your position
Who it's for
Any WEM customer whose capacity charge is a material line on the bill - manufacturers, processors, cold storage, mine sites, commercial buildings and multi-site portfolios.
A schematic afternoon, not real data. The intervals that count toward your capacity charge fall somewhere in the peak window - which afternoon, and which few intervals, moves with the weather and the market. That is what we watch, and what we send you notice about.