Energy Management Systems

The Australian Energy Market Commission, Australia’s energy rule maker, today released its draft determination on how to integrate energy technologies like solar and batteries into the electricity grid. In the draft, the Commission revived its proposal for a solar tax, immediately stirring backlash.

Queensland’s government will install five community batteries at regional substations across the state in a bid to time-shift its abundant solar resources.

Energy market analyst Cornwall Insights Australia has suggested states and territories should work together to manage the rollout of renewable energy projects with new research indicating that within 10 years the National Energy Market (NEM) could at peak times on an average day be swamped with excess generation.

Hydrogen transportation and submarine power lines have been compared by an international research team to find out which may be the cheapest option to connect for energy exchange regions separated by the sea. According to their findings, the hydrogen shipping alternative does not present very good prospects of applicability in the future, unless some disruptive technological breakthroughs are made. What makes compressed and liquified hydrogen ships still attractive, however, is that they can export energy almost anywhere, and that electrolysis and liquefaction plants are relatively easy to expand compared to marine cables.

Battery capacity in the distributed and large-scale sectors continues to grow, according the annual reckoning of the SunWiz oracle. Although still a complex proposition, for homeowners, battery potential is beginning to be utilised in the hundreds of megawatts by governments and utilities, with some interesting side hustles in the mid-sized energy-storage category.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency is helping to fund a trial by Distributed Energy Resources firm UPowr which will monitor solar customers interested in incorporating a home battery system. The aim of the project is to better incorporate customer experience insights into the design of DER products.

Australian company Redflow has made its single largest sale, supplying 192 zinc-bromine flow batteries to waste conversion specialists Anaergia for US$1.2 million.

Congestion due to the push and pull of demand and generation across inadequate transmission infrastructure continues to play havoc with marginal loss factors. Although NSW bears the brunt of AEMO’s draft calculations for the coming financial year, there are some bright spots in the NEM.

The delicate balancing act between incentivising rooftop solar uptake, versus moderating its effects on the grid and electricity markets continues, with the Victorian energy regulator reducing the state’s minimum solar feed-in tariff from 1 July.

The Queensland and New South Wales state governments have reaffirmed their commitment to the solar, wind and hydrogen industries with the establishment of new bodies which will help guide the states in their transition toward a renewable energy future.