Commodity Demand — QLD1: Saturday 28 March 2026

Queensland spot price sits at $57.53/MWh with total demand at 5,488 MW as of 06:30 AEST. That current price-demand pairing is instructive: demand has fallen roughly 1,850 MW from today's intraday peak of 7,367 MW reached around 17:50 AEST, and prices have compressed accordingly from a high of $84.73/MWh during the morning ramp. The tight band of $52–$58/MWh that has held through the afternoon and evening reflects a market sitting comfortably in the shoulder zone, with black coal at 2,344 MW providing the dominant price-setting stack and renewables contributing just 3.81% of generation.

The overnight demand trajectory is the dominant price signal for the hours ahead. Between approximately 00:00 and 11:00 AEST, demand collapsed from ~3,500 MW to a trough near 3,200 MW, producing sustained negative prices reaching -$33/MWh as inflexible coal generation exceeded load. Load windows confirm this pattern repeats tonight: prices in the 07:30–09:00 AEST window are forecast at -$8 to -$20/MWh, deepening further toward -$19 to -$20/MWh around 09:00 AEST as demand falls below 3,500 MW. This overnight negative price regime is a direct consequence of must-run coal supply overwhelming low weekend demand, with solar contributing negligibly after sunset and wind at near-zero capacity.

Traders and demand-side managers should note that today's morning ramp — when demand climbed from ~3,200 MW at trough to 7,367 MW in approximately six hours — drove prices from deeply negative territory up through $14–$84/MWh. A similar trajectory is probable tomorrow morning, with the steepest price sensitivity occurring in the 16:00–17:30 AEST window as demand crosses 6,000–7,000 MW. The forecast RRP for tonight's settlement period targets around $40–$53/MWh, consistent with current actuals, but that ceiling falls sharply once load drops below 4,500 MW after approximately 11:30 AEST.

One material data quality caveat: AEMO has issued "prices subject to review" notices under NER clause 3.9.2B for manifestly incorrect inputs across intervals from 05:00 through 06:30 AEST this morning. The 04:10 interval was reviewed and confirmed unchanged, but the 06:00–06:30 AEST intervals spanning the morning ramp remain under active review. Traders with settlement exposure to those intervals should treat published prices as provisional until confirmed. Grid stress is scoring 78.3/100, reflecting the tight supply-demand balance during peak periods rather than any current constraint, while carbon intensity holds at 0.8465 tCO2/MWh — among the highest in the NEM — consistent with coal's 97%+ share of the generation stack across most of the day.