This event brought together 1,200 people from every sector of the renewable / zero emissions industry with a laser focus on Australia’s progress towards its Net Zero Emissions plan.
An emerging and consistent theme of the Summit was Consumer Energy, a new model that puts the consumer first. It has the potential to take advantage of the millions of distributed generation assets all around the country, including Australian’s incredible uptake of residential, commercial and industrial rooftop solar, and deliver in return greater flexibility and competition in pricing.
Committee for Ballarat’s, Ballarat Energy Network (BEN), is ideally placed as a model for Consumer Energy, powered by locally generated renewable energy from a variety of Distributed Energy Resources (DER).
The Summit examined the role Consumer Energy can play in overcoming some of the challenges the renewable transition currently faces in regards to social licence and community benefit. The positioning of the Customer and the Community as a key beneficiary of the transition will help overcome the lack of trust that we see in regional areas, including our own, for the large energy developers, operators and retailers.
It is clear that new market models and flexible retail models will emerge as part of our energy transition. There are a number of new players looking to disrupt the market which, by the operator’s own admission, is no longer fit for purpose. The BEN is a test case for a city at scale, for new partnerships between generators, distributors, retailers, business, industry and the community. The results will be flexibility in pricing, reliability, automony, lower emissions and a focus on local communities.
Government, the market regulators and industry are looking at ways to evolve the regulatory framework to enable innovation and modernisation of the grid to correct its current failings. Innovations including Electric Vehicle to Grid and Electric Vehicle to House, through two-way directional flow, are realistic and will drastically change the way we generate, store and use electricity.
Innovation is being driven by a number factors, and again, BEN is well placed to take advantage of the changes:
- the aggregation and orchestration of Distributed Energy Resources – DER, local small scale renewables such as rooftop solar and other generation and storage assets used and shared locally. Nationally, the industry forecasts that DER will contribute up to $24b annually to the energy market.
- Investment in the local distribution networks (medium and low voltage, poles and wires), in our region. This involves PowerCore who will be a key partner in the evolution of the grid via the Distribution network.
The industry acknowledges there is much work to do to accelerate the transition as coal-fired electricity generation is phased out in the coming years. It is also acknowledged that we have come a long way in two years. Industry and the market need long-term and consistent policy in order to make multi billion dollar investments. Current Federal and State Governments have a clear ambition, a pathway to achieve the ambition, investment strategies and policies to demonstrate the necessary trajectory.
Alignment from all sides of politics and leadership was identified as a key requirement to ensure we can decarbonise the economy and become the world’s super power for renewable energy.
Long-term policy and consistency was discussed in detail. Interestingly, there was minimal support for the recently announced nuclear policy. The clear message, including from those who invest in nuclear energy internationally, was that for Australia, nuclear energy is too expensive and will take too long when compared to all other available and achievable forms of renewable energy. We are the envy of the world in relation to our solar, wind, storage, bio-energy and land resources and these give us a highly competitive cost advantage.
The Customer will be a big driver in the evolution of a new market that will maximise the opportunities of renewable energies. Smart metering, energy management, rooftop solar, EV’s and other distributed generation assets will shape the transition, along with large-scale generation and transmission. Australia has the capacity to generate many more times the amount of energy the entire country requires, and as such, can be a world superpower in Renewable Energy.