Energy Networks Australia and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency have joined forces in Melbourne today to generate ideas that will help determine how we operate the electricity networks of the future.

With the continued rise of solar photovoltaic (PV) and the growth in batteries, this ideate session will look at ‘grid orchestration’ for the networks of tomorrow.

Energy Networks Australia Interim CEO, Andrew Dillon, said the transition to a system with far more distributed generation and storage provides many opportunities for energy customers but also represents challenges that we need to act on now.

“The CSIRO and Energy Networks Australia Electricity Transformation Network Roadmap demonstrates how the successful integration of these new network services could see $16 billion in network infrastructure investment avoided by 2050,” Mr Dillon said.

“Networks could buy grid support from customers with annual payments worth $1.1 billion within 10 years.

“However, electricity distribution systems need to evolve in order to manage the technical challenges created by two-way energy flows.

“Today’s workshop brings together a range of experts to explore innovative ways to ensure the grid remains reliable and secure into the future.”

The Australian Energy Market Operator forecasts that by as early as 2026, rooftop solar capacity in South Australia will be enough to supply 100 percent of the state’s demand during minimum demand periods.

ARENA’s innovative workshop series A-Lab brings together industry participants from across the energy sector to troubleshoot and engineer ways to adapt the grid, reduce network costs and better integrate new technologies.

Participants at today’s A-Lab workshop are exploring the future design requirements of electricity distribution systems. They will also look at ways to encourage the alignment of industry projects to accelerate the network transformation.

For media enquiries, please contact:

ARENA: Anna Whitelaw 0410 724 227 media@arena.gov.au

Energy Networks Australia: Taryn Bevege 0447 569 029 tbevege@energynetworks.com.au