As Australia’s energy transition accelerates, a new generation of digital solutions are needed to coordinate an increasingly decarbonised, decentralised and democratised electricity network.
Dr John McKibbin leads CSIRO’s research in energy systems digitalisation. He is driving research programs working to enhance energy forecasting, system planning and network visibility.
“The current energy transition will be the defining challenge of our time. If you can imagine our energy market as a machine, then consider that we’re creating the largest and most complex machine ever invented. In real time,” Dr McKibbin said.
“There are three challenges that energy digitalisation can help us solve. And if we solve these challenges, we will be on our way to decarbonising our energy system.”
1. Sharing the load
As we enable the rapid electrification of our transportation, buildings and industry, more pressure will be placed on the grid to meet the growing demand for electricity. The capacity of our grid is finite, so maintaining the balance between supply and demand is crucial.
Strategically shifting load to low demand periods can restore balance to the grid during peak events, avoid wasteful overgeneration of renewables and increase grid resilience, reliability and affordability.
In doing so we can turn large flexible loads such as heating, air conditioning, hot water heaters, and electric vehicles into distributed energy resources for the grid, effectively creating a giant battery. The practice of operating appliances during off-peak periods when energy rates are lower is not new. But the introduction of smart technology has provided the capacity to automate and optimise load timing to maximise efficiency and consumer savings.
Empowering smart buildings
Commercial buildings are responsible for around 25 per cent of electricity use in Australia and ten per cent of emissions. To improve energy efficiency, property managers need comprehensive and accurate building data and reliable processes to connect diverse data sets.
The Data Clearing House (DCH) is a digital solution developed by CSIRO in collaboration with industry innovation and university research teams. The platform streams disparate sources of building data to a single location and includes information from external authorities such as the weather bureau and electricity market. By consolidating these insights, the DCH unlocks quality data trends and intelligence, empowering building managers to realise energy savings and flexible load opportunities.
Read More: https://www.energymagazine.com.au/three-pathways-a-smarter-energy-system/
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