Grids & Integration

In its first briefing following the publication of its Post 2025 Market Design Options Paper, the Energy Security Board’s Independent Chair, Dr Kerry Schott, spoke candidly about what will inevitably be a “messy” transition to renewables.

Microgrids afford an opportunity to essentially become a power station operator. That opportunity, says Dr Adrian Panow, the Director of Deakin’s Energy Initiative, unearths a number of urgent questions ranging from the technical all the way to the ethical. They are questions cross-faculty researchers at Deakin University, now home to a sizeable microgrid, plan to interrogate.

Victoria’s Andrews Government has launched a battery aggregation pilot program which seeks to build an “approved aggregation provider list” alongside the Solar Homes battery rebate. The Victorian Government sees the future of virtual power plants and microgrids and this is an opportunity for both consumers and providers to benefit.

Elvin Group Renewables has constructed a 5 MWh Tesla Megapack to help ensure stability of energy supply in Canberra’s new northern suburbs and the wider grid. Its plans to proliferate the model are audacious.

New South Wales network operator Ausgrid has unveiled its new community battery in Bankstown, south west of Sydney. The battery is the second of three to rollout as part a government trial to allow solar customers to store their extra energy at no additional cost.

The Australian Energy Market Commission, the country’s rule maker for electricity and gas markets, has this morning released proposals to reward fast frequency services in the National Electricity Market for the first time.

Business synergies, employment opportunities, leadership in decarbonising world markets. BZE has the ear of the Prime Minister, and research to inspire a statement of intent for renewable-energy-powered, competitive Australian manufacturing.

Annual battery storage installations will exceed 10 GW/28 GWh in 2021, following a particularly strong year in 2020, despite the challenges created by the global pandemic, writes IHS Markit analyst Mike Longson. Combined solar and storage will be a core focus for new deployment in 2021, as the front-of-the-meter and behind-the-meter energy storage markets are both expected to grow significantly in the months ahead.

Greater dispatchability will be required from solar as it becomes increasingly mainstream worldwide, or investors could experience diminishing returns as a victim of the technology’s success at bearing down on electricity prices.

The contest is over. Faster, cheaper, more flexible than gas turbines … battery energy storage must be the future peaking energy service provider of choice says the hard evidence exposed in a new paper by the Clean Energy Council.