By Phil Kreveld
Australian Energy Week’s plenary conference and ‘re-engineering the grid’ session breathed a very positive and hopeful air for Australia’s electrical energy transition.
Related article: Tinkering or crazy-brave?
Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen radiated hope and enthusiasm while addressing the audience in June 18’s plenary session. The resounding victory of Labor on May 3 provides a solid base for further development of wind, solar and battery resources, as well as grid expansion. Fairer and lower electrical energy costs are keys to prosperity. Lowering of Default Market Offers, and energy for indigenous enterprises are in his sights. The Capacity Investment Scheme so far is a success with prospective tenderers aplenty, and 6.4GW already approved. Grid enhancement funding of $30 million in total will be announced on July 15 (https://business.gov.au/grants-and-programs/grid-enhancing-technologies). Minimum grants are $250,000 and range to $5 million. Although not specifically mentioned, grants are intended for projects in distribution grids. Bowen is looking forward to being able to host COP31, the more so for its implications for the Pacific Island nations.
Fairness towards consumers is reflected in Bowen’s planned revision of default market offers and South Australia Power Network’s efforts to provide maximum benefit for consumer energy resources by way of smart demand management, for example, utilising dynamic operating envelopes for the interaction with CER. This would open up a market for local grid management in parallel with virtual power plant aggregators operating in the wholesale market. Local grid management (voltage control in feeders, reverse power flow in transformers, etc.), would reward participating CER owners by allowing external control of their solar PV systems with rewards via their energy bills. This is clearly an extension of the Common Smart Inverter Profile based on the IEEE2030.5. The work of Dr Tim Nelson for the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) in redesigning Australia’s electrical energy trading could be beneficial for consumers and generators. He pointed out the major drawback for practical implementation, being Australian Energy Market Operator’s lack of visibility in distribution networks.
Distribution networks figured largely with Energy Networks Australia, stressing the need for better utilisation of excess energy created by CER, for example the employment of public electric vehicle charging points, and the location of storage batteries at substations. ENA commented that the monopoly of distribution networks is making innovation difficult. Social license issues relating to new transmission projects, makes for more focus on distribution networks as self-reliant entities. The concept of TOTEX should guide distribution network discussion although it clearly applies to other parts of electrical energy projects. Rather than separating capital and operating expenditures in separate buckets, projects answering to desired outcomes should be viewed on a combined expenditure basis over their projected lifetime.
The spotlight also shone on transmission lines; the somewhat surprising comment being made by Transgrid that power demand has been flat. Though not surprising since CER self-generation undoubtedly is partially responsible, it nevertheless emphasises the network costs associated with electricity tariffs. Transgrid sees the growth in datacentres as very important in boosting demand, coining the phrase ‘converting megawatts to megabytes’. Inter alia, your correspondent asked a question in regard to the application of artificial intelligence. The response focussed on asset management rather than network operation. Yet, as one speaker pointed out, the control of an entire electricity system on a millisecond-by-millisecond basis, would appear to be an ideal AI application.
In regard to transmission projects, EnergyAustralia managing director Mark Collette made the point that batteries at either end of existing transmission lines would reduce the necessity for some new links. A plea for sub-transmission generation projects was also made, with particular application to the Hunter region.
Engineering and regulatory aspects still require attention. An interesting point brought out during the panel discussion on ‘re-engineering the grid’ was the lack of an integrated engineering authority charged with the development of all aspects of generation, transmission and distribution. From commentaries during the various sessions, there were some noteworthy points, a very striking one being the lack of distribution networks visibility, excessive red and green tape, a hunting for perfection rather than acceptable risk tolerance, the need for coal-fired power station maintenance during their phase-out, and high gas prices making gas turbine support unnecessarily expensive.
Related article: Milliseconds for decisions—or is it hasta la vista?
As a takeout from Australian Energy Week, the engineering challenges of the renewable transition remain but notwithstanding there is an air of positivism, which augurs well for journey we are embarked on.
