Commodity Demand — SA1: Friday 3 April 2026
South Australia's spot price sits at $0/MWh against demand of 1,254 MW at 06:30 AEST — a price level that reflects the Saturday morning conditions playing out in the generation mix, where wind is producing 782 MW and gas CCGT contributing just 42 MW with solar yet to ramp. The demand-price relationship across the past 24 hours tells a striking story: overnight demand collapsed to a trough of around 130 MW (around 13:20 AEST Saturday, 03:20 UTC), driving prices to -$188.99/MWh before recovering. That overnight floor is now well behind us, with demand climbing steadily through the pre-dawn period from roughly 500 MW at 11:30 AEST to the current 1,255 MW range. The price inflection point is clear in the data: negative prices persisted while demand sat below approximately 1,000 MW, and the transition to zero or marginally positive prices tracks closely with demand crossing back above that threshold.
The morning ramp has already produced the sharpest pricing of the day. Demand peaked at 1,496 MW around 19:00 AEST (09:00 UTC), coinciding with prices reaching $25–$38/MWh — the highest sustained levels in the 24-hour window. Since that peak, demand has eased back to the current 1,255 MW band and prices have returned to near-zero, consistent with the afternoon solar contribution expected to increase supply-side pressure as the day progresses. Forecast data for the 07:00 AEST (21:00 UTC) interval has been revised down significantly across successive runs — from around $30/MWh in early-morning forecasts to $0/MWh in the most recent three runs — signalling that the market is pricing in a comfortable supply position for the next trading period.
Today's price outlook is shaped by two competing forces. As a Saturday, demand is not expected to reach the 1,480–1,497 MW morning peaks seen during the business week, and the load windows data points to a deep negative-price regime returning from 08:30 AEST tonight (22:30 UTC) through to at least 16:30 AEST (06:30 UTC Sunday), with forecast interval prices reaching -$285/MWh in the 13:30 AEST (03:30 UTC) window. Traders should note that AEMO has multiple active "Prices Subject to Review" notices for early Saturday morning intervals (05:15–06:10 AEST) under Clause 3.9.2B — these prices remain provisional and could be revised, though the 05:50 AEST interval has already been confirmed unchanged. The demand trajectory suggests any upward price pressure today will be confined to a brief evening demand rise, likely in the 1,300–1,450 MW range, before overnight wind generation reasserts the negative-price environment.