Rooftop solar sparks record decline in wholesale power prices
The continued rollout of rooftop solar PV and large-scale wind and solar farms continues to reshape Australia’s electricity market with new data released by the Australian Energy Market Operator revealing that the penetration of renewable energy continues to drive new records in the National Electricity Market.
AEMC delays final decision on ‘solar tax’ reform
A decision about the controversial two-way pricing reform proposed by the Australian Energy Market Commission has been delayed with the rule maker extending the publication date for its final report on how to integrate new energy technologies like solar PV and batteries into Australia’s electricity grid.
WA Flexibility Services Pilot cues a 100MW orchestra of DER
How to get the gigawatts of distributed solar generation in the WA’s South West Interconnected System to play nicely with the network: Western Power has gathered 100 MW of resource to test its coordinated ability to stabilise the system on low demand days.
AEMC opens consultation on DER integration, solar export charges
The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) is calling for submissions on proposed rule changes that would address the integration of distributed energy resources, including enabling export charges as a pricing tool.
Extreme weather and electricity reliability: Resilience is key
New research by digital services company, Accenture, finds global energy-utility executives feeling underprepared for the increasing frequency of extreme weather events caused by climate change. It’s time to expand the definition of reliability.
“De-constraining the grid”: inside WA’s new rooftop PV roadmap
Earlier this month, the Western Australian government released its Distributed Energy Resources (DER) roadmap. Another report focused on the threats posed to grid stability by accelerating solar uptake? Not so, says Bill Johnston, the WA Minister for Mines and Petroleum, Energy and Industrial Relations; it’s about opportunities.
ACT virtual power plant trial to help optimize DER network integration
An ARENA-backed trial run by ACT network operator Evoenergy in partnership with French power electronics specialist Schneider Electric and Melbourne-based energy tech company GreenSync will research and test the effect that the integration of distributed energy resources is having on Canberra’s increasingly decentralized energy grid.
$68.5 million in Federal funding awarded to clean-energy research cooperative
A consortium of partners led by the University of Technology Sydney has been successful in its bid for funding of a Cooperative Research Centre dedicated to enhancing energy consumers’ access to and efficient deployment of distributed renewable resources — primarily rooftop PV.
ARENA funds Wattwatchers toward more consumer empowerment
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) is set to fund Australian energy technology company Wattwatchers to the tune of $2.7 million. The funding will aid the development of a consumer-facing energy data hub, ‘My Energy Marketplace,’ another step forward in consumer energy empowerment.
AEMO calls for over 30 GW of solar and wind to replace coal-fired generation by 2040
To fill the gap left by retiring coal-fired plants, the Australian Energy Market Operator forecasts that Australia should invest in a further 30-47 GW of new large-scale wind and solar projects by 2040. At the end of the outlook period, AEMO projects that distributed energy resources could provide up to 13% to 22% of total underlying annual NEM energy consumption.
