RENEWABLES SPONSORED EDITORIAL
THREE PATHWAYS As Australia’s energy transition accelerates, a new generation of digital solutions are needed to coordinate an increasingly decarbonised, decentralised and democratised electricity network.
D
r John McKibbin leads CSIRO’s research in energy systems digitalisation. He is driving research programs working to enhance energy forecasting, system planning and network visibility. “The current energy transition will be the defining challenge of our time. If you can imagine our energy market as a machine, then consider that we’re creating the largest and most complex machine ever invented. In real time.” Dr McKibbin said. “There are three challenges that energy digitalisation can help us solve. And if we solve these challenges, we will be on our way to decarbonising our energy system.” 1. Sharing the load As we enable the rapid electrification of our transportation, buildings and industry, more pressure will be placed on the grid to meet the growing demand for electricity. The capacity of our grid is finite, so maintaining the balance between supply and demand is crucial. Strategically shifting load to low demand periods can restore balance to the grid during peak events, avoid wasteful overgeneration of renewables and increase grid resilience, reliability and affordability. In doing so we can turn large flexible loads such as heating, air conditioning, hot water heaters, and electric vehicles into distributed energy resources for the grid, effectively creating a giant battery. The practice of operating appliances during off-peak periods when energy rates are lower is not new. But the introduction of smart technology has provided the capacity to automate and optimise load timing to maximise efficiency and consumer savings. Empowering smart buildings Commercial buildings are responsible for around 25 per cent of electricity use in Australia and ten per cent of emissions. To improve energy efficiency, property managers need comprehensive and accurate building data and reliable processes to connect diverse data sets. The Data Clearing House (DCH) is a digital solution developed by CSIRO in collaboration with industry innovation and university research teams. The platform streams disparate sources of building
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data to a single location and includes information from external authorities such as the weather bureau and electricity market. By consolidating these insights, the DCH unlocks quality data trends and intelligence, empowering building managers to realise energy savings and flexible load opportunities.
2. Making the invisible visible Australian households and businesses are changing the way our energy is produced. They are taking a more active role in energy generation through the uptake of distributed energy resources (DERs) such as solar and battery storage. The rapid integration of DERs into the grid has introduced technical and operational challenges. DERs can be invisible to energy network operators, who may only see the change in net demand that they cause. The lack of visibility compromises the network’s capacity to understand DER behaviour and effectively manage the power system. This can lead to blackouts and equipment damage if the physical limits of the distribution network are breached. DERs can be connected and operated at scale through microgrids and virtual power plants (VPPs), offering enormous potential to contribute to a reliable and secure energy system. Realising our distributed energy potential CSIRO, through the RACE for 2030 collaborative research centre, developed a strategy with network businesses, universities and tech companies to increase our visibility of the low-voltage network and help enhance the capacity of the network to host DERs. A range of opportunities were identified to enhance network visibility, including better leveraging smart meter and smart inverter data and installing new emerging network monitoring technologies. The collaborative research program is now working to enhance the network visibility and hosting capacity of the low voltage distribution network, including: » Developing data standards, interchange protocols and data integration platforms » Developing improved analytical workflows for network planning and operations including hosting capacity assessments and dynamic operating envelopes » Identifying the value of DER services for networks and customers www.energymagazine.com.au