Agenda
| TIME | AGENDA | |
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| 10:00 | Welcoming Speech, Opening Remarks & Thank You Sponsor Speech By Forum Producer |
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| 10:10 | Welcome Address By Forum Chairperson |
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Ariel Liebman, PhD Director Monash Energy Institute |
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| Keynote | ||
| 10:15 | Achieving Net Zero For The National Electricity Market: What Does That Look Like? |
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| This casts a great deal of uncertainty on a market that had been expanding at a rapid pace in the previous five years. This session will share what are the resilience of renewables that will be tested beyond 2021 with regulatory changes and compliance challenges taking into consideration of the digital disruption from new utility business models. | ||
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Alan Rai Director Baringa Partners LLP |
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| Virtual Power Plant Implementations, Innovations And Future | ||
| 10:50 | Victoria’s Energy Innovation Initiatives |
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| Victoria is moving towards a future powered by renewable energy and we need to rethink the way we bring energy to communities. Victoria has legislated a new target of 50% renewable energy generation by 2030 and is rapidly adding renewable energy generation, which is cheaper to build than new coal plants. Victoria’s coal-fired generators will begin closing from 2029. Victoria relies on an electricity network designed to move electricity from coal-fired power plants in the Latrobe Valley around the state. Many renewable energy sources like wind and solar farms are located in many parts of the state such as Western Victoria, Great South Coast, as well as in the Gippsland region. This means we need to build new electricity links to share this energy across Victoria as well as into other states.To expand renewable energy in Victoria, the government and private sector need to work together. Renewable energy can bring many benefits including reliability, affordability and reduced emissions. | ||
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Marika Wanklyn (DELWP) A/g Director, Industry Engagement and Development Energy Group | Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning |
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| 11:25 | Northern Beaches Charges Ahead: How Northern Beaches Council Switched To 100% Renewable-Sourced Electricity And Is Working Towards Net Zero With Their Community |
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| On the journey to net zero, Northern Beaches Council has made the switch to 100 per cent renewable-sourced electricity, cutting an estimated $1.9 million from its budget over the next seven years and shaving nine years off its commitment for all suitable Council sites to be powered by renewable electricity by 2030. The supply agreement with Iberadola has Council powering all its 382 sites and street light network with renewable-sourced electricity, linked to wind turbines at the Bodangora site near Wellington, NSW. The savings from the shift to renewables are being diverted to important other services. Council’s carbon footprint has been slashed by about 80 percent or around 20,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year – equal to the annual emissions of 2,800 homes. We are now focusing on other initiatives to reduce our remaining corporate emissions and delivering the Charge Ahead program to address the bigger challenge of net zero for our whole community. | ||
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Yianni Mentis Executive Manager, Environment and Climate Change Northern Beaches Council in Sydney |
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| 11:55 | Pathway To Net Zero Emissions By 2040: Electricity Prices, Emissions And Australia’s Rapid Solar/Wind Deployment | |
| Australia is installing solar and wind faster than almost any other country. More solar & wind is reducing BOTH prices and AND emissions, so the net cost of emissions reductions is less than zero. A 100% renewable electricity grid will be more robust and reliable than at present. | ||
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Andrew Blakers Professor Australian National University |
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| 12:30 | Lunch Break | |
| 13:30 | Case Study: Sustainable Future In End Of Life Management For Solar Panels |
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| Installing solar panels is an easy way to lower your carbon footprint and cut electricity bills. But our recent research found there are many incentives to remove them prematurely, adding to Australia’s massive waste problem.
Researchers predict Australia will accumulate one million tonnes of solar panel waste by 2047 – the same weight as 19 Sydney Harbour Bridges. But this number is likely to be higher, as we found people often choose to remove panels after just 10 to 12 years of use. This is much earlier than their estimated end-of-life age of 30 years (and potentially older). Unfortunately, recycling is just a small part of the solution. So why is this happening, and what can we do about it? |
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Dr Deepika Mathur Senior Research Fellow, Northern Institute Charles Darwin University |
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| 14:05 | Customer Experience In A Residential Battery VPP – AGL’s Experience From Its South Australian Virtual Power Plant |
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| AGL’s VPP project comprises the installation and orchestration of a 5MW VPP consisting of up to 1,000 residential energy storage systems installed behind the meter, and capable of dispatching up to 12MWh of stored energy. It recently successfully completed Stage 2 of the three-stage deployment of energy storage systems. 312 batteries had been installed in customer’s homes and a new ESS technology energy storage system rolled out. Early trials showed that the VPP can respond as expected to both planned and unplanned dispatch events and has the potential to respond rapidly enough to participate in the 6 second contingency FCAS market. Stage 3 of the project will focus on completing the remainder of the 1,000 installations and further demonstration of VPP functionality for a number of network service and wholesale participation use cases. | ||
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Gregory Abramowitz Head of Orchestration Platform and Operations AGL Energy |
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| Microgrids Development & Innovations | ||
| 14:40 | National Energy Laws Amendment: Implications Of The New Framework That Allows DNSPs To Take Customers Off Grid | |
| A Stand-Alone Power System (SAPS) is an electricity supply arrangement that is not physically connected to the national grid. This includes microgrids, which supply electricity to multiple customers, and individual power systems, which supply electricity to a single customer.
Technological developments, and the falling costs of renewable generation and batteries, are making SAPS an increasingly viable way of supplying customers. When parts of the distribution network need to be upgraded, it may now be more efficient to service a group of customers via a SAPS rather than proceed with the upgrade. SAPS are not generally captured under the national electricity frameworks and are currently subject to jurisdictional legislative frameworks that vary in their comprehensiveness. This can result in a preference for network upgrades over SAPS, even where the SAPS may be the most efficient option. |
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Darren Gladman Director, Distributed Energy Clean Energy Council |
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| 15:15 | Exploring Measures To Address Minimum Demand Challenges Caused By High DER Penetration |
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| Smart grid vector diagram. Smart communication grid, smart technology town, electric smart grid, energy smart grid illustration. The past 5 years have seen the largest penetration of renewable energy systems. This increasing deployment of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) mainly; solar PV, residential and suburb scale battery storage, electric vehicles and micro-wind turbines has led to the rapid transition away from the classic centralized fossil-powered grid. In the formative years, the DERs were regarded as self-consumption systems and little regard was given to their ability to connect to the main grid, there-by creating two-way of energy into a grid that was designed unidirectional flow. This has raised questions about the security, reliability and efficiency of the grid given this seismic shift. Industry, government and regulators have been working round the clock to develop measures to address the challenges associated with the high DER penetration. This session will explore various measures currently being pursued and the implications of their deployment. | ||
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Thuba Moyo Technology Advisor Solar Victoria |
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| 15:45 | Closing Remarks By Forum Chairperson | |
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Ariel Liebman Director Monash Energy Institute |
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| TIME | AGENDA | |
|---|---|---|
| 10:00 | Welcoming Speech, Opening Remarks & Thank You Sponsor Speech By Forum Producer |
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| 10:10 | Welcome Address By Forum Chairperson |
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Dr Scott Dwyer Research Principal, Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF) University of Technology Sydney |
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| Next Steps In Virtual Power Plants (VPP) |
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| 10:15 | Insights From Simply Energy’s VPPx Project In South Australia | |
| In early 2018 Simply Energy announced it had received $7.7m in ARENA funding to embark on what was then one of the largest virtual power plant trials in Australia. The VPPx Project aimed to connect 1,200 residential home battery systems to trade across wholesale and FCAS markets and to integrate with a new distributed energy market platform – deX, developed by project partner GreenSync. Over 3 years later the project is now coming to a close. This session will cover the customer, technology and market insights gained from the Project and what this means for the VPPs of the future. | ||
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Ryan Wavish General Manager Simply Energy Solutions |
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| 10:50 | Prosumer Led Network Effects Of Distributed Energy Resources | |
| Energy crisis, economic and environmental concerns have led the way to prosumer-based electricity market where consumers and utilities can participate in market operations for economic benefits. Distributed energy resources and energy storage on prosumer facilities can provide significant financial savings for the consumer and grid support for the utilities. This session will cover what are the latest trend and benefits around this area. | ||
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James Eggleston Doctoral Researcher Curtin University Sustainability Policy (CUSP) |
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| 11:25 | Panel Discussion: Integrating Distributed Energy Resources (DER): Why Should Technical Integration Be The First Priority | |
| This discussion will cover what can be learnt from the integration of DER in Australia so far and how it might better inform Australia’s investment program. Discuss will cover from technical, regulatory and market integration perspectives on why technical integration is the first priority or should it be first priority. Is Technical integration work vital to support consumer and investor confidence in DER in Australia? How can it encompass the quality of DER products and installations, integration into the distribution grid and providing certainty of return on investment? | ||
| Moderator: | ||
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Ariel Liebman, PhD Director Monash Energy Institute |
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| Panelists: | ||
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Ed Chan Director Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) |
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Dr Jaysson Guerrero Senior Research Consultant, Institute for Sustainable Futures University of Technology Sydney |
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Eduardo Robaina EVP Operations Add Energy |
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Gabrielle Kuiper Guest Contributor Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) |
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| 12:15 | Lunch Break | |
| Innovations In Grid Scale Energy Storage: Growth And Developments | ||
| 13:15 | Battery Storage And Grid Integration: VPP Capabilities And New Models Of Storage Deployment And Customer Representation | |
| The Battery Storage and Grid Integration Program is taking a holistic, transdisciplinary approach to the development, integration, operation and optimisation of energy storage in electricity grids and electricity markets globally. Issues of energy equity and justice must be considered alongside issues of energy reliability and energy security as we transition our electricity sector away from coal-fired power generation towards a grid primarily powered by renewable generation and energy storage. | ||
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Lachlan Blackhall Entrepreneurial Fellow and Head, Battery Storage and Grid Integration Program, Research School of Engineering ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science |
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| 13:50 | MyTown Microgrid Heyfield: Innovative Local Energy System Feasibility Study | |
| MyTown Microgrid is an innovative, multi-year, multi-stakeholder project undertaking a detailed data-led feasibility study for the historic town of Heyfield.
$1.8 million from the Federal Regional and Remote Communities Reliability Fund and $100,000 from the Latrobe Valley Authority was granted to the project partners to undertake a study, testing what local energy solution is feasible and desirable for the town. The Heyfield Community Resource Centre, Wattwatchers Digital Energy, and the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) are leading the project. More and more communities are taking control of their own energy supply in Australia. Spurred by new, affordable, clean technology options, these communities are part of a global movement changing the way electricity is generated, transmitted, stored, and used. Localized solutions empower communities to become resilient and adapt to crisis situations. Assessment and design will be built on a platform of deep community engagement and capacity building. The objective is a better energy future for the people of Heyfield, and a role model for other communities. |
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Dr Scott Dwyer Research Principal, Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF) University of Technology Sydney |
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| Renewable Energy Innovations |
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| 14:25 | Case Study: Net Zero Energy Demand Homes | |
| Net Zero Energy Demand homes have the potential to reduce energy costs for homeowners and residents while also reducing emissions through deploying energy efficiency, demand management and renewable energy in new build houses. While this needs to be done rapidly it also needs to be done in a measured way that does not compromise the grid, nor put substantial additional pressures on housing affordability. | ||
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Julia Halioua Sustainability Advisor Frasers Property Australia |
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| 14:55 | Nevertire Solar Farm: Insights From A Large-Scale Solar Project To Provide Affordable, Reliable And Sustainable Electricity For Australians | |
| The Nevertire Solar Farm has an installed capacity of 132MW capable of generating circa 250 GWh of green electricity each year. The site will cover an area of 180 hectares and comprise approximately 400,000 solar panels, installed on ground-mounted single axis tracking frames. The 132MW Nevertire Solar Farm is located near Warren in north-west New South Wales. The farm has generated renewable electricity which will feed into the national electricity grid and use standard, flat solar photovoltaic (PV) modules installed on ground-mounted single axis tracking frames.
This session will cover some point on construction techniques, solar forecasting and capital costs, to Operations and Maintenance (O&M) practices and grid impacts. |
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Richard Armstrong Senior Asset Manager Elliott Green Power |
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| 15:30 | Closing Remarks By Forum Chairperson | |
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Dr Scott Dwyer Research Principal, Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF) University of Technology Sydney |
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