Power Systems Consultants and Spain’s X-ELIO have joined Monash University’s Grid Innovation Hub with the intent of solving critical issues facing Australia’s electricity grid.
Australia’s electricity grid is transitioning faster than anyone imagined, with massive industry investment in renewable energy. The transition is outpacing the technologies and policies that have supported the National Energy Market since 1998.
Related article: Incentives for off-peak EV charging could ease grid stress
“We created the Grid Innovation Hub to help solve critical issues facing Australia’s energy grid today, and to help create a fit for purpose grid for decades to come,” Monash Grid Innovation Hub chair Dr Tony Marxsen OAM said.
“Later this year we’ll report on a suite of technologies that can strengthen the grid.”
“We’re excited to have Power Systems Consultants (PSC) and X-Elio joining the Hub,” said Professor Ariel Liebman, Director of the Monash Energy Institute, host of the Grid Innovation Hub at Monash University.
“They will enable us to bring the best academic, business, and engineering knowledge to the challenges facing Australia’s national grid. They join our research partners across the University.”
The hub is tackling two critical areas.
- Physical stability: Australia’s grid is undergoing a major transformation where fossil fuels are being replaced by renewable energy resources such as solar and wind. Many of these renewable resources are in weak areas of the grid in regional areas and are prone to various stability issues.
- Financial/economic stability: The grid will rely on large-scale storage to ensure reliable supply. The hub has started a project to determine the policies needed to ensure reliable renewable energy at low cost while avoiding a concentration of market power.
Engineering for a reliable renewable grid
“Our project, Stability enhancement of utility-scale renewable energy farms in weak grids, will assist both network owners and operators to ensure customers get the maximum value of these renewable farms located in weak parts of the grid. It will also increase the reliability and security of the grid in such areas,” says Dr Behrooz Bahrani, a research director in the Grid Innovation Hub. This project is developing:
- ways to identify parts of the grid where wind and solar farms will be vulnerable to instability
- technologies to strengthen weak networks through devices and/or control strategies
- technologies to protect wind and solar farms from weak grids.
The project’s partners include PSC and AEMC.
Establishing the right policies
“There is no energy transition without storage, however there is no policy for storage yet,” said Associate Professor Guillaume Roger, a research director in Monash Energy Institute’s Grid Innovation Hub.
“Storage is based on arbitrage and delay, which are completely new considerations in electricity markets that are traditionally designed for immediate delivery and consumption. At this point we are still in front of the problem, but the physical reality is moving fast and so must research and policy making.”
Related article: Australia’s electricity grid: Over-governed, highly regulated and under-engineered
The Hub has established a project to investigate how best to integrate energy storage into Australia’s grid. The project is supported by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) with the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) and Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) both involved.
“Power Systems Consultants (PSC) are already working on this project with us,” Roger said.
“The energy storage decisions we make in the next five years will define how Australia’s grid will operate for the next 20 years,” he said.
