Electricity generation contributes significantly to Australia’s national greenhouse gas emissions. Understanding the changing nature of grid emissions intensity, the quantity of emissions per unit of grid electricity consumed, is important for developing effective emission reduction strategies. This understanding supports moving beyond net-zero targets towards 24/7 zero emissions.
This data-set provides near-real-time consumption-based estimates of emissions intensity for the 5 regions of the National Electricity Market (NEM). The method applies a matrix-based flow tracing algorithm to trace electricity flows from the point of generation to the point of consumption. Primary outputs are the estimated emissions intensity from grid consumed electricity at five-minute intervals for each region.
Input data is sourced from the market operator. This includes real-time generator supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) data, rooftop solar generation estimates, interconnector flows and associated losses, regional electricity demand, and regional rooftop pv generation data.
Generator-specific carbon intensity factors incorporate Scope 1 and Scope 3 emissions (and Scope 2 emissions for semi-scheduled generators only). These factors automatically update over time which enables ongoing improvements in the emissions intensity of specific generators to be captured in addition to the overall effect of generator closures and new generators coming online. Details of the modelling approach can be provided on request.
Disclaimer
CSIRO disclaim all warranties as to the accuracy of the data in this dataset or the acceptable performance or fitness of the data for any particular purpose.
Documentation
API Guide
Table 1 Overview of the emissions intensity model
Model type | Consumption-based |
Transmission losses | Included within the flow-tracing approach as per the market operator’s guideline. |
Region import/export | Included |
Rooftop solar | Included |
Emissions factors | Dynamic generator-fuel specific sourced from AEMO’s CDEII (updated monthly) and revised with the IPCC report for semi-scheduled generators. Scope 1 & 3 (and 2 for semi-scheduled generators only) |
Resolution | 5-minute resolution time-series |
Regions | NSW, QLD, SA, VIC, TAS |
Units | g CO2 / kWh |
Exceptions | - When handling generation data not linked to a specific generator, the framework assigns an emissions factor equal to the generation-weighted average emissions factor of all other generation within the same region. In other words, unmatched generation is assumed to have the same emissions intensity as the regional average.
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