Horizon Power’s Carnarvon Distributed Energy Resource (DER) photovoltaic trials were awarded a joint Silver in the Energy Smart Communities Initiatives (ESCI) Best Practice Awards in the category of Smart Grids.
Sixty-three submissions from 17 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies participated in the 2019 ESCI Best Practice Awards, with awards being presented to 11 winners.
The Carnarvon DER trials, which commenced in 2018, run over a three-year period and involve investigating the management of renewable energy and energy storage on a selected segment of the power grid in Carnarvon.
Horizon Power technical visionary David Edwards said the project team were honoured to have been awarded a silver for the DER trials.
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“This is an award that we proudly share with our partners Murdoch University who are undertaking the data analysis for the trials,” Mr Edwards said.
The data collected will assist Horizon Power in developing an advanced model for renewable energy integration for towns, which have reached their solar capacity limits. This will include exploring the most economically efficient ways to design and manage a future grid with high levels of DER, reduce dependence on centralised fossil fuelled generation, and reduce carbon emissions.
“These trials could represent the future of energy generation in remote and regional areas, moving us away from fossil fuelled generation,” Mr Edwards said.
As part of the Federal Government’s Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), the trials have received $1.92 million.
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