Greenhouse gas emissions from the Australian power industry increased by 3.8 per cent over the month of October, as lost generation gradually made a comeback in the lead up to summer, according to October's Emissions Insights report from RepuTex carbon analytics.

"We project emissions will rise 4.7 per cent in November in line with seasonal movement in demand as warmer days are forecast to rise, and generators continue to ramp up capacity", said RepuTex Associate Director Prayank Katiyar.

Victoria was the biggest contributor to overall emissions, taking over from New South Wales in September.

The three largest states (NSW, QLD and VIC) saw the average price in October drop below September, due largely to off-peak prices which have been low on the back of an increase in base load generation.

"When compared to the same period last year, the maximum price was far below October 2011 levels, indicating that while demand hasn't shown any considerable increase, available generation is keeping prices low", said Katiyar.

Generation from NSW and QLD black coal continues to dominate the Australian market, yet brown coal saw the largest month-on-month increase for October. Tarong North Power station (QLD) was taken offline on Oct. 8 for a scheduled overhaul and is expected to return to service by Nov. 19. Tarong 1-4 units have picked up the lost load and have been generating harder to maintain their portfolio.

Stanwell Unit One (QLD) returned in October from its August outage, while Kogan Creek (QLD) ramped up to full capacity. International Power saw an increase in availability from the units in its portfolio, Loy Yang B along with Hazelwood saw an increase in Victoria while Pelican Point in South Australia also saw a rise in generation.

Snowy Hydro is using the current market to their favour and has wound back its generation, ensuring enough water for the high price period.

Emissions in Victoria are forecast to drop from 2015 onwards as brown coal generation is forced offline with the introduction of the Federal Carbon Price Mechanism. QLD is expected to see a continuous rise as more and more gas fired generation comes online in the state and demand increases.

Cumulative emissions for the financial year have reached 30 per cent of the full year forecast and are expected to cover 38 per cent of forecast by the end of November.