Unlocking productivity in our energy sector is deeply reliant on our ability to deploy renewables fast and reliably.
It’s a point that most agree on in the energy sector and is in line with the Productivity Commission’s focus on more faster planning and approvals for clean energy to support the net zero transformation. The question is, what is the best path to fast?
The Productivity Commission is focused on environmental reforms to accelerate renewables deployment along with establishing a specific position – a Coordinator General – to help shepherd projects through the pipeline.
This is a self-described “pragmatic and practical” strategy that can be implemented by the Australian government. What it is not, is innovative.
Innovation lies at the heart of productivity. If we want to do things a lot better, we often need to do it very differently.
Professor Roy Green, who is leading the Net Zero Authority’s energy industry jobs plan, makes it clear, “our productivity growth depends on investment in research, innovation and skills [that] all contribute to a high-value adding net-zero industrial structure.”
Most energy experts agree that it will be very difficult to meet the Australian government’s target of 82% renewables by 2030 without doing something very differently.
Independent analysis undertaken at the UNSW Collaboration on Energy and Environmental Markets supports this. The Capacity Investment Scheme is in place, and now expanded, but it is chasing a trajectory that is exceptionally difficult to achieve.
What we need now is a step-change in the pace of renewable energy deployment to replace our ageing coal fleet. An innovative approach that can drive this step-change is advanced real-time simulation of the future power system.
By modelling and validating renewable and storage technologies in a high-fidelity “digital twin” environment in parallel with the traditional construction and commissioning processes , developers and grid operators can de-risk grid integration, reduce connection timelines, and improve operational performance.
Most large-scale renewable plants are built in remote areas, where on-site testing is costly, slow, and vulnerable to delays. Off-site real-time simulation allows project teams to evaluate control strategies, validate compliance, and optimise designs under realistic network conditions before field deployment.
This means that by the time engineers arrive on site, they are implementing proven configurations with a much higher likelihood of first-time success.
Potentia Energy has been collaborating with the UNSW Real-Time Simulation Laboratory to model, test and analyse complex grid scenarios in a controlled environment.
Werther Esposito, CEO of Potentia Energy, estimates that it is 100X quicker than when using regular modelling software. This collaboration allows Potentia Energy to reduce its time to commissioning, providing benefit to the business as well as to the energy system as a whole.
Faster commissioning means more reliable power and lower costs to consumers.
This facility is also speeding up the deployment of new technologies, including AGL’s grid-forming battery in Broken Hill. Grid-forming batteries can provide the essential system services that are currently provided by our coal-fired generation fleet. This battery can now store renewable power for the community while also helping to keep the lights on.
We can scale up this innovative approach to power our productivity.
Most other advanced economies have invested in nationally significant infrastructure with scaled-up version of this simulation and testing capability.
A decade ago, the UK established its Power Networks Demonstration Centre, underwritten by the government and supported by industry. In the US, the National Renewable Energy Laboratories have a megawatt-scale Power Hardware-in-the-Loop facility for academics and manufacturing partners to test energy technologies at full power.
We could do something similar in Australia with a concerted national effort. We have an opportunity to bring together the power system expertise and infrastructure across Australia’s research institutions to support the achievement of net zero. However, establishing nationally significant infrastructure will require substantial investment.
Sadly, we are not seeing enough investment into Australia’s innovation ecosystem. We spend approximately 1.68% of our GDP on R&D while the average of other OECD countries is at least 3%. And according to the Australian Council of Learned Academies, we have seen a fourfold drop in Australia’s investment in R&D towards our energy transition since 2013. Hardly commensurate with the “moral challenge of our time”.
We have some of the best and brightest minds at the ready. We are the home of the father of modern solar panel, Professor Martin Green, and leading the world in the uptake of solar on rooftops. We have one of the largest real-time grid simulation facilities right here, on the same campus.
It is time to activate our fantastic home-grown research and technology capabilities to get more from our energy projects, which is what productivity is all about.
Dani Alexander is chief executive officer of the UNSW Energy Institute and Mark Twidell is an Industry Professor of Practice at the UNSW Energy Institute
