Energy Management Systems

The Australian Energy Regulator has begun consultations to allow distributor-led standalone power systems (SAPS) to become part of the national electricity system. Proving highly successful in Western Australia, these SAPS could soon be properly rolled out in the east.

Scientists in the United Arab Emirates have looked at how off-grid rooftop PV could be combined with batteries, fuel cells or reversible solid oxide cells for energy storage. The modelling assumed a typical commercial building in Los Angeles.

The switch has been flicked on what has been labelled one of the Southern Hemisphere’s largest rooftop solar PV systems with Queensland government-owned Yurika announcing an almost 5MW system installed atop the Logan Hyperdome Shopping Centre is now operational.

A team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Cornell University, and Wuhan University have presented a completely precious metal–free alkaline fuel cell with enhanced performance using a carbon-coated nickel anode. Meanwhile, the Port of Rotterdam has offered to supply northwestern Europe with 4.6 million tonnes of hydrogen by 2030. According to RMI, Europe will import green hydrogen between 2024 and 2030. RenewableUK sees room for hydrogen exports from the UK to the EU.

German researchers have developed a new shape-stabilised phase change material with the ability to store up to five times more thermal energy than commercially available phase change materials (PCMs).

Western Australia has been offered a glimpse of its energy future with the $35 million Project Symphony aggregating its first package of residentially generated energy and successfully participating in a simulated two-way Wholesale Electricity Market.

Some believe Australia has begun to tip over the “solar cliff,” reaching penetrations that are becoming disruptive to the balance of the grid and to the business models of solar companies themselves. Following notable exits from the market, alarm bells are ringing for solar companies to offer more than just solar installations, writes pv magazine’s Bella Peacock.

The software, called HOMER Front, is designed for standalone or hybrid solar or wind-plus-storage applications, aimed at maximising revenue streams.

As part of the Smart Energy Conference held in Sydney last week, the Smart Energy Council’s Scott Hamilton ran a session on Australia’s hypothetical energy landscape in 2030. This is how panelists Simon Holmes á Court, Jane Caro, Richard Denniss, Karrina Nolan and Professor Iain MacGill think we’ll be living at the decade’s close.

Lift Energy Storage Technology is a proposed long-term storage solution that relies on elevators to bring solid masses to the tops of buildings in charging mode. It then lowers the same mass to produce electricity in discharge mode.