Reference

The Battling Entropy Primer

Background explainers on Australia’s energy system. Use these as on-ramps for the analytical posts on the main blog.

Medieval cathedral scene where robed "grid priests" hold sacred texts. A bystander holds a golden key labeled "Primer #00," which translates the priest's strange symbols into ordinary words - poles & wires, battery, street feeder, bill, and grid rules, satirizing the mystique of electrical grid terminology.

Electrical Jargon Demystified

Primer #00: The strange terminology of electricity and grids explained in plain English

Electricity discussions are full of jargon. Some of it is necessary. Much of it is inherited from engineering, regulation and market design traditions that evolved separately over decades. The result is that ordinary discussions about electricity can quickly become unreadable. This primer is intended as a plain-English guide to some of the most common terms used in modern electricity discussions, particularly in Australia’s National Electricity Market (NEM). It is not exhaustive. It is a working glossary.

Mar 3, 2026

Circus ringmaster juggling energy market chaos: strongman labeled "Battery Power" lifts weights marked with negative prices and volatility, while wind and solar performers balance on platforms, regional conductors (NSW, VIC, QLD, SA, TAS) juggle contracts, and AEMO ringmaster waves signs reading "$15,000/MWh negative prices volatility.

The NEM 101

Primer #01: Australia's National Electricity Market

Australia's National Electricity Market (NEM) — What is it, how does it work, who are the players and what do they do?

Apr 15, 2026

Underground pump turbine labeled Florence with workers excavating around it beneath mountains, representing Snowy 2.0 pumped-hydro energy storage infrastructure.

Snowy 2.0 (warts and all)

Primer #02: Australia's pumped-hydro long-term storage project

Snowy 2.0 is a 2,200 MW pumped hydro project under construction in NSW, storing 350 GWh — over 30 times the entire NEM grid-battery fleet. It has been a lot slower and more expensive than planned. It is the key critical path item for the renewable transition, was originally planned for completion in 2021 and is now due late 2028. Cost has gone from $2 billion (2017) to $12 billion-plus, with all-in lifecycle estimates near $42 billion.

Apr 25, 2026

Santa's sleigh laden with golden home battery boxes flies over a suburban landscape of houses with rooftop solar panels, delivering distributed energy storage to residential grids.

The Cheaper Home Batteries Program

Primer #03: The Australian Federal Government's Program explained

Australia's Cheaper Home Batteries Program gives households a point-of-sale discount on a small-scale battery, delivered. It has been a tearaway success with over 250,000 home batteries installed in the first 9 months. The battery must be paired with solar and VPP-ready. From 1 May 2026, the discount tiers by battery size: full under 14 kWh, 60 percent up to 28 kWh, 15 percent above.

Apr 27, 2026

A firehose spraying into a teacup illustrates MW versus MWh: megawatts measure power flow rate, megawatt-hours measure total energy capacity, with battery examples showing a 5 MW/20 MWh system running four hours at full power versus an Olympic pool-sized 1 GWh battery.

MW vs MWh (and why the difference matters)

Primer #04: The terminology critical to understanding electricity markets

Megawatts (MW) measure power (the rate of energy flow) while Megawatt-hours (MWh) measures energy (the quantity). Think of power (MW) as the tap, energy (MWh) as the pool. Electricity generation is quoted in MW; bills are charged in MWh; batteries need both numbers because the ratio gives duration.

Apr 28, 2026

Sketch of dancing elephant next to glowing orange grid network diagram, symbolizing the tension between traditional spinning generators and modern power electronics infrastructure.

Grid stability (and why power electronics will one day rule the grid)

Primer #05: Why a grid that loses its spinning machines must learn to keep in time on power electronics

Synchronous inertia — the kinetic energy stored in a coal turbine's spinning mass — was the grid's automatic shock absorber for well over a century. As coal retires and inverter-based generation rises, that absorber disappears. Grid-forming inverters and synthetic inertia are how we replace it.

May 3, 2026

Workers balance glowing batteries across a tightrope spanning a chasm labeled "Beware of the Duck Curve," symbolizing the grid's challenge managing solar energy's midday peak and evening demand cliff.

What is the Duck Curve and why does it matter?

Primer #06: Why solar makes electricity cheap at lunch and scarce at dinner

The impact of solar generation on our electricity grid and what we can do to make the system work better. The critical role of storage and how fast it can charge and discharge.

May 4, 2026

Multiple stakeholders crowd around a glowing home battery behind an "Owner Access Only" barrier, with labeled figures representing VPP operators, retailers, installers, and government agencies competing for control and data access.

VPPs explained — and why so few people join one

Primer #07: Battery aggregation, Virtual Power Plants (VPPS), dispatch rights, and where the value goes

Australia has plenty of home batteries but very little coordination. Traditional VPPs offer limited, opaque value and low participation. The missed opportunity is trusted, simple coordination that unlocks network savings and lowers electricity bills. "Old fashioned" integrated utilities in other markets use VPPs far more successfully to defer network build as well as trade on th emarket.

May 5, 2026

Steampunk machinery diagram showing electricity market components: spot market gears labeled volatile prices, hedges contract controls, networks transmission towers, policy levers, central engine with supply-demand processing, stability monitoring, and bill generation output, all connected by flowing orange conduits.

What's in a price?

Primer #08: How electricity prices are set on the NEM and on your bill

Spot prices, forward contracts, price hedges, network charges, tariffs, and why your electricity bill is not just what the wholesale market charges.

May 6, 2026

Cross-section diagram showing water flowing through pipes with varying efficiency: some taps connected to wide or straight pipes dispense water smoothly while others connected to narrow or convoluted pipes have erratic flow, illustrating how electricity prices vary by location and grid congestion.

What is locational marginal pricing?

Primer #09: Why electricity doesn’t have one price — and what happens when we pretend it does

Electricity shouldn’t have one price — its cost of delivery varies by location depending on network limits, losses and local supply. A system called locational marginal pricing reveals these differences, helping the system run more efficiently by signalling where energy is needed most. Australia doesn't have it.

May 7, 2026

Two mice on exercise wheels power a central frequency gauge reading 50 Hz, with interconnected mechanical gears symbolising AEMO's frequency regulation market for the Australian National Electricity Market.

Grid Frequency Control 101

Primer #10: Why the grid runs on a metronome (and who pays for it)

The frequency control service, known as FCAS, that keeps the grid operating in time. How the grid pays for the heartbeat it used to get for free — and why batteries are the best mechanism for keeping it in tune.

May 18, 2026

Annotated diagram showing electricity flow from power station through transmission lines and substations to suburban homes, with magnified detail of a distribution transformer stepping down voltage to supply a low-voltage feeder serving residential streets.

What is a low voltage feeder?

Primer #11: The street-level part of our electricity grid, and why it matters even more today.

A low voltage feeder is the local street-level circuit that carries electricity between a distribution transformer and a group of customers — usually anything from a few homes to about a hundred — and it is becoming one of the most important stress points in Australia’s changing electricity system.

May 28, 2026

Suburban neighborhood with $20 notes strung like laundry across power lines, illustrating distributed energy generation and grid infrastructure costs.

Network Charges and the RAB 101

Primer #12: How do the costs of transmission and distribution get paid and by who?

Network charges pay for the physical grid. "The RAB" is the regulated asset base - the value of the grid assets customers are paying for. When approved assets are added to the RAB, customers usually pay for them over decades through depreciation and an allowed return. That model is necessary for monopoly infrastructure, but dangerous if every problem becomes a building program.

Jun 7, 2026