Radical change needed to upgrade system for renewables, EVs and rooftop solar
Preparing Australia's energy system to handle an influx of TVs, rooftop PV, and big wind and solar requires an equally massive change in the way we plan for it, says Energy Capitalist principal Mark Paterson.
Australia’s energy system – as it is – will not be able to handle the projected 4 to 5-fold increase in rooftop solar, or the AEMO's step change scenario.
Paterson says a whole-of-system approach to modifying Australia’s energy system is needed.
The massive build-out of rooftop solar, EVs, and DER have created a "tidal system", he says.
It means some areas can now source all of their power needs from rooftop solar and other consumer energy resources during the day, and at night all of that demand washes back into the system.
Large scale renewables are also potential sources of system instability as old technology like coal-fired power plants, which used to handle grid stabilisation, are shuttered.
Paterson’s view is that we don’t have a process that focuses on the whole system from transmission through to generation down to pool filter, which would ensure the grid remains balanced.
If jurisdictions such as the UK, the EU, and even the US state of New York are ahead of Australia in terms of transformation, significant work has already been done here.
A review by Race to 2030 shows that at least 182 trials, demonstrations or studies have already been undertaken in Australia.It found that these focus on how to integrate CER and DER into the existing system, but also points towards the next phase of research.
In June, Australia’s state and federal energy ministers agreed to develop a national roadmap for CER.
But this is still a piecemeal approach to one part of the systemThe downside is none of the trials has been integrated with any of the others, Paterson says.