Key points
- The electricity sector provides the nearest term pathway to decarbonisation for Australia.
- The challenge is to close the technical gaps between the higher amount of renewable energy available to the lower amount of renewable energy used in the electricity grid.
- Integrating more renewable energy efficiently into electricity systems is engaging the global energy ecosystem which includes researchers, system operators, manufacturers and developers.
Today, over three dozen power system operators around the world are working on a common initiative to accelerate renewable energy into electricity grids.
Australia is a founding member of the Global Power System Transformation (G-PST) Consortium, which now engages about 35 per cent of global electricity generation. CSIRO and the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) lead our nation’s contribution, recently releasing Australia’s G-PST Stage 3 Reports.
Dr John Ward is the Research Director of CSIRO’s Energy Systems Research Program, which leads our G-PST research work.
“Our goal is to allow AEMO to confidently supply all available renewable energy to consumers while maintaining the grid's stability," John says.
"At the same time, this system change needs to work to reduce energy costs, create jobs, drive investment, and pioneer new technologies. In short, stimulate economic growth while driving down emissions.”
Decarbonising Australia’s electricity sector
At last year's COP28 climate summit, Australia joined 117 other countries pledging to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030. The agreement also includes doubling the annual rate of energy efficiency improvements by 2030.
“The electricity sector provides Australia's nearest-term pathway to decarbonisation. That’s where we can really see meaningful change over the next decade,” John says.
“Many exciting developments may take place in other sectors in the longer term. These include hydrogen, the development of carbon management technologies, sustainable aviation fuels and a range of other options.”
However, to manage our carbon budget, we need to focus on the technologies we can actually deploy now, John says. That buys us time for the other options to come to fruition.
The facility will also be used to develop automatic fault detection techniques to help improve electricity supply reliability and reduce blackouts.
The facility incorporates a large range of electrical generators and replicates the way electrical load for an entire complex changes during the day. This means researchers at the facility can test new grid design and operation techniques in a real-world environment using a variety of electrical generators and loads.
The Renewable Energy Integration Facility is connected to solar photovoltaics, wind and gas turbines, battery storage and a load bank. The technologies being developed are designed to be used on any generation method, now and into the future.
The operators responsible for our energy landscape face significant technical challenges as they deliver consumers secure, reliable, affordable, and clean electricity. Renewable energy sources are cleaner, and our energy infrastructure must adapt to intermittency, variability and a range of generation points.
Australia’s renewable capacity is already well advanced but not yet fully optimised. Data from AEMO’s Quarterly Energy Dynamics Report showed that in the last quarter of 2023, the total potential energy available from variable renewable energy (VRE) sources reached 99.7 per cent of the National Electricity Market (NEM)’s requirement.
However, the highest actual renewable penetration reached was 72.1per cent.
It’s a situation for power operators globally which underscores the value of the G-PST collaboration, says Karin Wadsack, Executive Director, G-PST Secretariat.
“On top of their cutting-edge research regarding Australia’s path to large-scale renewable energy power systems, AEMO and CSIRO play key roles in the implementation of technical solutions worldwide via G-PST’s partnerships. The direct technical partnerships with electrical system operators enable the accomplishment of important decarbonisation targets across many high-impact countries,” Karin says.
The control room of the future
One of the shared international goals of the G-PST consortium is the control room of the future.
Over the last year, the focus has been on applying advanced machine learning and AI techniques to the control room.
Control rooms are a critical element of electricity network operation. The energy transition is bringing new challenges that will require control rooms to modernise their operations and technology. In Australia, one of the specific challenges is the high percentage of renewables in the electricity network.
Dr Mahathir Almashor is a senior engineer with our Energy Systems Digital Transformation team.
“The levels of VRE in the system are making things in the control room more complicated,” Mahathir says.
“Previously, a control room operator might have had a small number of large-scale power stations to monitor. Now, there are millions of small-scale solar systems, plus increasing numbers of new solar plants and wind turbines, plus the existing power stations that are still part of the mix.
“There's a lot more going on that needs monitoring. We're providing tools to support human operators in making good, fast decisions by making the flow of data more manageable.”
Over the last year, Mahathir supported his AEMO, EPRI, and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) research colleagues in developing an AI-based advisory system. The system can run in parallel with existing systems in AEMO's control room while it is continuously refined. The aim is to fully incorporate this into the operator's workflow.
“Imagine you’re an operator with multiple streams of data being fed to you, and at the same time, there are maybe 10 alarms going off in the control room,” Mahathir says.
“You need help to focus on the most important alarm first – the one that is telling you about a potentially disruptive event. We can apply machine learning techniques to help operators prioritise and make decisions. Instead of technology that provides the operator with data, we want technology that provides them with insights.”
Collaborations to accelerate the energy transition
AEMO's Luke Robinson is Executive Director of the G-PST consortium.
Luke describes system operators as central to enabling the energy transition.
“System operators are managing the system, managing operational risk, keeping the system secure and managing reliability. They're enabling greater integration of, and operation with, distributed, variable renewable generation," Luke says.
“We have excellent visibility of the big challenges – we experience them in real-time in our control rooms. We also see operational risks emerging as the system changes,” he says.
According to Luke, an approach that brings in the whole energy ecosystem, which includes researchers, system operators, manufacturers and developers, is the best option for solving some of the issues that we face. Technical standards, laboratory testing, modelling, and operational tools as research areas offer enormous opportunities for greater collaboration.
“Internationally, we have different markets, regulatory regimes and renewable targets, resulting in nuances and differences between the systems,” Luke says.
“It becomes easier for manufacturers and vendors if we can jointly define what an electricity system needs and common requirements. That way, they can design to those specifications rather than various bespoke different capabilities,” he says.
Luke also highlights the importance of the research that has been taking place at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) to bench-test household inverters to validate the model parameters that AEMO uses for rooftop solar and other distributed energy resources.
“It demonstrates the value of engaging all experts helping operate the power system to provide a secure, reliable supply to consumers,” he says.
“Tapping into the expertise of various experts and stakeholders ensures we can navigate the energy transition as smoothly as possible.”