# AU Grid Connection Queue Tracker (AEMO NEM) (`codeclouds/au-grid-connection-queue-tracker`) Actor

Australia's NEM generation and storage connection pipeline from AEMO's official quarterly Connections Scorecard: GW and project counts per stage, split by technology and state, with quarter-over-quarter change tracking. From $0.006/stage, PPE.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/codeclouds/au-grid-connection-queue-tracker.md
- **Developed by:** [Dennis](https://apify.com/codeclouds) (community)
- **Categories:** Other, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $6.00 / 1,000 pipeline stages

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## AU Grid Connection Queue Tracker (AEMO NEM)

Track Australia's National Electricity Market (NEM) generation and storage connection pipeline from AEMO's official quarterly Connections Scorecard — pipeline capacity (GW) and project counts per connection stage, split by technology (battery, solar, wind, hydro, gas) and by state (NSW, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC), plus financial-year milestone trends and quarter-over-quarter change detection.

### When should an AI agent use this?

- "How big is Australia's grid connection queue right now, and how is it split across NSW, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria?"
- "What share of the NEM connections pipeline is battery versus solar, and how has that mix changed this quarter?"
- "Which connection stages are growing fastest — application, proponent implementation or registration — and by how many gigawatts?"
- "How many generation and storage projects reached full output in the current financial year, and how does that compare month by month?"
- "Has the NEM pipeline grown or shrunk since my last run, and by how many gigawatts?"

### What this Actor does

- Reads AEMO's official quarterly NEM Connections Scorecard workbook (keyless, no API key required).
- Returns the **current in-progress pipeline** per connection stage — Enquiry, Application, Proponent Implementation, Registration and Commissioning to Full Output — in GW and project counts. Enquiry is flagged as excluded from AEMO's published pipeline total.
- Breaks every stage down by **generation/storage technology** (gas, wind off-shore, wind on-shore, solar, solar+battery, battery, hydro, other) and by **NEM state** (NSW, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC).
- Returns the **financial-year performance milestones** (Approved Applications, Approved Registrations, Full Output Achieved) with the full 12-month trend and the fiscal-year-to-date total.
- Adds **cross-run change detection** via a named key-value store: each record is flagged as new/changed and carries the GW delta versus your previous run.
- Provides a free run **summary** record with the total pipeline (GW and project count).
- Uses a dependency-free XLSX parser — no vulnerable spreadsheet library.

### Input

The actor works with zero input. All fields are optional filters.

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `stages` | `enum[]` | Filter on connection stage (`enquiry`, `application`, `proponent_implementation`, `registration`, `commissioning_to_full_output`, …). Empty = all. |
| `technologies` | `enum[]` | Filter the stage breakdown on technology (`battery`, `solar`, `solar_battery`, `wind_onshore`, …). Empty = all eight. |
| `states` | `enum[]` | Filter the stage breakdown on NEM state (`NSW`, `QLD`, `SA`, `TAS`, `VIC`). Empty = all five. |
| `recordTypes` | `enum[]` | Which record types to deliver: `pipeline`, `milestones`, `summary`. Empty = all three. |
| `scorecardUrl` | `string` | Optional override of the AEMO workbook URL to pin a specific quarter. Must be an https URL on aemo.com.au. |
| `onlyChangedSinceLastRun` | `boolean` | Default `true`: deliver only new/changed records. Set to `false` for the full filtered snapshot every run. |

#### How filters interact with the numbers

This trips people up, so it is worth being explicit:

- `gw` and `projects` are **always the stage total**, regardless of any technology or state filter. With `technologies: ["battery"]` you get `gw: 35.293` (all of Application) next to a `byTechnology` array containing only battery.
- The filtered sums are exposed separately as `filteredTechnologyGw` / `filteredTechnologyProjects` and `filteredStateGw` / `filteredStateProjects`. With `technologies: ["battery"]` on the Application stage: `filteredTechnologyGw = 22.154`.
- `splitFilteredBy` tells you which filter is active (`technologies`, `states`, `BOTH`, or `null` when the arrays are complete). A `null` filtered sum means "not filtered", not zero.
- `stages` only selects *which stages* are delivered; it does not change their numbers.

#### A note on `onlyChangedSinceLastRun`

AEMO publishes the scorecard **quarterly**, so the underlying numbers only move four times a year. If you run this actor twice in the same week with the default `onlyChangedSinceLastRun: true`, the second run correctly returns nothing. Use `false` for a full snapshot, or schedule the actor quarterly. The summary record always reports `deliveredStageCount` and `changedStageCount` so an empty result is self-explanatory.

### Output (example)

One `pipeline_stage` record:

```json
{
  "recordType": "pipeline_stage",
  "key": "2025-2026|stage:application",
  "period": "2025-2026",
  "reportDate": "2026-06-30",
  "stage": "application",
  "stageLabel": "Application",
  "gw": 35.293,
  "projects": 128,
  "includedInTotal": true,
  "byTechnology": [
    { "technology": "battery", "gw": 22.154, "projects": 85 },
    { "technology": "solar_battery", "gw": 5.24, "projects": 19 },
    { "technology": "wind_onshore", "gw": 5.035, "projects": 12 }
  ],
  "byState": [
    { "state": "NSW", "gw": 13.745, "projects": 56 },
    { "state": "QLD", "gw": 12.171, "projects": 34 }
  ],
  "splitFilteredBy": null,
  "filteredTechnologyGw": null,
  "filteredTechnologyProjects": null,
  "filteredStateGw": null,
  "filteredStateProjects": null,
  "isNewSinceLastRun": true,
  "isChangedSinceLastRun": true,
  "previousGw": null,
  "gwDelta": null,
  "source": "AEMO Connections Scorecard",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.aemo.com.au/-/media/files/electricity/nem/network_connections/connections-scorecard/2026/Chart-data-june-2026.xlsx",
  "fetchedAt": "2026-10-01T17:22:08.842Z"
}
```

One `milestone` record carries the monthly trend and the FYTD total:

```json
{
  "recordType": "milestone",
  "key": "2025-2026|milestone:full_output",
  "milestone": "full_output",
  "milestoneLabel": "Full Output achieved",
  "fyTotalGW": 9.098,
  "fyTotalProjects": 34,
  "monthly": [
    { "period": "2025-07", "gw": 0.202, "projects": 1 },
    { "period": "2026-06", "gw": 1.101, "projects": 4 }
  ]
}
```

A free `summary` record reports the total pipeline, the per-stage breakdown, and the additive technology and state totals across the whole pipeline (every project sits in exactly one stage, so these sums are a reliable national total):

```json
{
  "recordType": "summary",
  "reportDate": "2026-06-30",
  "totalPipelineGW": 75.368,
  "totalPipelineProjects": 323,
  "enquiryGW": 195.9,
  "enquiryProjects": 492,
  "countByStage": {
    "application": 128,
    "proponent_implementation": 142,
    "registration": 33,
    "commissioning_to_full_output": 20
  },
  "technologyTotals": [
    { "technology": "battery", "gw": 39.599, "projects": 178 },
    { "technology": "solar_battery", "gw": 13.623, "projects": 56 },
    { "technology": "wind_onshore", "gw": 11.498, "projects": 36 }
  ],
  "stateTotals": [
    { "state": "NSW", "gw": 26.94, "projects": 121 },
    { "state": "QLD", "gw": 25.922, "projects": 83 },
    { "state": "VIC", "gw": 14.492, "projects": 71 }
  ],
  "deliveredStageCount": 5,
  "changedStageCount": 0
}
```

### Use cases

- **Developer site-selection** — screen Australian states for grid-connection headroom before committing to a large solar or battery project.
- **Energy-transition investment** — track how much battery/solar capacity is working through the NEM connection pipeline and where it is concentrated.
- **Market and policy research** — monitor the NEM pipeline quarter over quarter to gauge the pace of the energy transition and grid constraints.
- **Queue monitoring for project developers** — set the actor to run quarterly and receive only the stages whose capacity changed.

### When to use this Actor (and when not to)

This is a **NEM-wide, aggregated** tracker. It reports capacity per connection stage, technology and state — it is **not** a per-project or per-address lookup, because AEMO publishes the scorecard as aggregated figures only. If you need a specific proponent's project status, contact AEMO/NSPs directly.

The **NEM excludes Western Australia** (which runs a separate Wholesale Electricity Market) and the isolated grids (Pilbara, Mount Isa, Northern Territory). This actor covers NSW, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria only.

### Pricing (Pay Per Event)

- `apify-actor-start` — platform default.
- `pipeline-stage` — $0.006 per delivered stage record after the free baseline run.
- `milestone-report` — $0.006 per delivered milestone record after the free baseline run.
- `pipeline-change` — $0.01 extra, only when a record is new or changed versus your previous run.

The first run seeds the persistent baseline and charges no custom events. In the default changed-only mode, unchanged records are free on later runs.

### Legal and data source

All data comes from **AEMO (Australian Energy Market Operator)**, the operator of the National Electricity Market, via its public quarterly Connections Scorecard workbook. The figures are aggregated by AEMO ("aggregated to maintain confidentiality") and contain no personal data, project names or proponent details. Please review AEMO's terms of use if you plan to redistribute the data commercially.

### FAQ

**Which states are covered?** NSW, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria — the five NEM states. Western Australia is excluded.

**How often is the data updated?** AEMO publishes the Connections Scorecard quarterly (after March, June, September and December). The actor resolves the most recent published quarter automatically.

**Does it show individual projects?** No. AEMO publishes aggregated capacity and project counts, so the actor reports stage/technology/state totals — not a per-project queue.

**What is the difference between "Enquiry" and the total?** Enquiry is the pre-application phase and sits outside AEMO's published pipeline total (Application through to Full Output). Those records are flagged with `includedInTotal: false`.

**Is an API key required?** No. The workbook is a public, keyless download.

### Keywords

AEMO, NEM, National Electricity Market, grid connection queue, Australia grid capacity, connections scorecard, grid congestion, netcongestie, renewable energy Australia, battery storage, solar, wind, hydro, gas, NSW, QLD, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, energy transition, generator connection, queue tracker.

### Related Actors

- [UK Grid Capacity Tracker — NESO TEC Register](https://apify.com/codeclouds/uk-netcongestie-grid-capacity-tracker) — the UK's equivalent grid-connection capacity tracker.
- [NL Netcongestie Monitor](https://apify.com/codeclouds/nl-netcongestie-monitor) — Dutch grid-congestion monitor.

### Changelog

#### v0.1

- Initial release: parses AEMO's quarterly NEM Connections Scorecard workbook (keyless, dependency-free XLSX parser).
- Pipeline per connection stage with technology and state breakdowns, FY milestone trends, cross-run change detection and a free run summary.
- Reviewed before launch: `recordTypes` now correctly controls the summary record; a technology/state filter no longer misleads (the stage total and the filtered sums are separate fields); the pipeline total is located by label instead of a fixed row so a future AEMO layout change can't silently skew it; downloads are validated as real workbooks; and the summary adds additive technology/state totals across the whole pipeline.

# Actor input Schema

## `stages` (type: `array`):

Optional filter on the NEM connection stage. Leave empty for all stages. 'enquiry' sits outside the published pipeline total; 'commissioning\_to\_full\_output' is the stage AEMO labels 'Full Output' in its summary table.

## `technologies` (type: `array`):

Optional filter on the generation/storage technology in the stage breakdown. Leave empty for all eight technology types.

## `states` (type: `array`):

Optional filter on the NEM state in the stage breakdown. Leave empty for all five states. Western Australia (separate WEM grid) and the isolated grids are not part of the NEM and therefore never appear.

## `recordTypes` (type: `array`):

Which record types to deliver. Leave empty for all three: the current pipeline per stage, the financial-year milestone trends, and the run summary.

## `scorecardUrl` (type: `string`):

Optional override of the AEMO Connections Scorecard workbook URL, to pin a specific quarter. Must be an https URL on aemo.com.au. Leave empty to resolve the most recent published quarter automatically.

## `onlyChangedSinceLastRun` (type: `boolean`):

Default true. When true, only stages/milestones that are new or whose GW or project count changed since the previous run are delivered. The first run of a fresh store still delivers the full filtered snapshot for free to seed the baseline; later runs deliver only the differences. Set to false to receive the full filtered snapshot on every run, with the change flags still attached.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "onlyChangedSinceLastRun": true
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

Results stored in the default dataset.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("codeclouds/au-grid-connection-queue-tracker").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("codeclouds/au-grid-connection-queue-tracker").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call codeclouds/au-grid-connection-queue-tracker --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,codeclouds/au-grid-connection-queue-tracker"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/gvQo1M29mhY6wXXIE/builds/XdH8bsbHYKJXsxNzT/openapi.json