Australian Renewable Energy Agency Awards $ 9.6 million for Distributed Energy Resources

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced that on behalf of the Australian Government has awarded $ 9.6 million in funding to 12 projects and studies to further amalgamate distributed energy resources (DER) into the electricity system.

ARENA is presenting $7.21 million to five pilot projects led by Zeppelin Bend, Jemena, SA Power Networks, Solar Analytics and RACV. Each project will test novel approaches to the escalating network hosting capacity with the goal of allowing the system to operate steadily whilst maximizing the capability of distributed energy, such as solar PV, to supply energy to the grid.

A further $2.38 million has also been allocated to seven studies led by CitiPower & Powercor, Dynamic Limits, University of Tasmania, CSIRO, Oakley Greenwood, the Australian National University and the University of Melbourne. The studies will examine how to productively integrate high penetrations of DER into the grid and into the energy market.

DER includes behind-the-meter technologies such as rooftop solar, home batteries, inverters, controllable loads both in homes and commercial and industrial amenities, electric vehicle charging points, smart appliances and systems (such as fridges, air conditioning systems, hot water heaters and pool pumps) as well as appropriate enablers such as smart meters and data services.

ARENA CEO Darren Miller supposed these 12 projects and studies will help to exploit the prospective benefits of DER technologies owned by households and businesses.

“Rooftop solar, batteries and other customer-related energy technologies are set to play a key role in shaping the future energy system. It is projected that up to half of all electricity could be generated by consumers within the next few decades, up from around 4% today. This is a huge change and will require innovations in software, hardware and thinking to achieve the best outcome for consumers,” he said.