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Experts confirm cyber threats to energy sector

Published about 19 hours ago • 7 min read

Hey Reader, in today's edition:

  • Preparing for new cybersecurity rules
  • 100,000 milestone for home batteries
  • Who will deliver VPP benefits?

On the edge

Australia’s energy transition is bringing a new set of cybersecurity challenges.

Rules have been developed which establish minimum cybersecurity requirements for consumer-grade internet-connected devices, including Consumer Energy Resources (CER), and will take effect from March 4, 2026.

While China is widely known as a major player in cyber espionage, with critical infrastructure particularly appealing, Australia has become a top regional ransomware target for hackers seeking to exploit organisations for financial gain.

Nation-state and so-called eCrime adversaries both pose threats to Australia’s energy sector, experts confirmed. And they’re increasingly weaponising generative AI.

Expert view

“From hyper-targeted phishing to synthetic voice calls that bypass biometric multifactor authentication, to deepfake impersonation and automated security testing, these adversaries are weaponising AI-enabled social engineering with speed and precision.

To stop these AI-driven identity attacks, organisations must adopt an identity-centric security approach that ensures unified protection for every identity. This approach should include implementing zero trust security principles, phishing-resistant MFA and passwordless solutions, modern privileged access management solutions, and automated identity threat detection and response capabilities.

These capabilities work most effectively when delivered through a unified security platform that enables real-time data sharing and leverages agentic AI functionalities to provide machine-speed detection and response outcomes across all systems.”

Fabio Fratucello
Field CTO World Wide, CrowdStrike

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100,000 milestone for home batteries

The 2GWh of storage added via the Cheaper Home Batteries program since July has increased home battery capacity by more than 50%.

“It took six years from the installation of Australia's first big battery to reach 1GWh of utility-scale grid storage…and households have installed twice as much in the last four months.”
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Simon Holmes à Court
Convenor, Climate 200

More than 100,000 have been plugged in under the $2.3 billion program that gives households, businesses and community organisations a discount of around 30% on the upfront cost of installing small-scale battery systems (5kWh to 100kWh).

Marking the milestone on Sunday with Energy Minister Chis Bowen at Rouse Hill in NSW, Attorney-General Michelle Rowland said outer suburbs and the regions were leading the way on cheaper, cleaner energy.

And the average system size is getting bigger, with the seven-day moving average close to 25kWh compared to average household consumption of 12kWh per day, Tristan Edis writes in Renew Economy.

“Some see such oversized battery systems as a bad thing, but households choosing to install larger battery systems achieves major labour productivity gains and provides the power system with extra storage capacity at much lower economic cost than if they were to stick to a small system.”
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Tristan Edis
Director - Analysis and Advisory, Green Energy Markets

The percentage of household daily consumption potential stored in batteries will rise to 15% by 2040 under the “step change” scenario in the latest Integrated System Plan (ISP) and 20% under an “accelerated transition”, which now looks a bit undercooked.

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Who will deliver VPP benefits?

Tapping the boom in home battery capacity to deliver for the grid is an appealing option for the market operator, and AEMO head Daniel Westerman is hopeful retailers will come to the party.

But consumer and retail policy experts are less convinced — they say retailers have very real limitations holding them back from offering the benefits consumers are looking for before they’ll offer up their energy in support of the system.

Expert view

“Retailers — and in particular gentailers — have core business from which we all benefit. They manage wholesale risk, a growing challenge in the transition from on-demand thermal generation to variable renewables and storage. They handle the transactions and costs of multiple supply side elements, simplifying them into simple price structures bills that are relatively understandable, and — some admittedly better than others — provide hardship support for people doing it tough.

But in the last decade or so we've been placing expectations on retailers — such as responsibility for metering — that are misaligned with their business models, priorities and bottom lines. Is delivering the benefits of VPPs to consumers the next unreasonable demand we are making of them?

Leveraging the network benefits requires cost-reflective network tariffs, which have been resisted by retailers in favour of existing systems and leaving risk with consumers. And this reluctance to take risks or change systems limits retailers’ ability to tap into other aspects of VPPs value streams, particularly those requiring a high degree of certainty and predictability.”

Craig Memery
Senior Advisor, Energy & Water Justice, Justice and Equity Centre

Catch Up

Projects

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Tilt Renewables’ 108MW Waddi wind farm near Dandaragan in WA’s Wheatbelt region, a priority project on the National Renewable Energy Priority List, was granted environmental approval under national laws after Dandaragan Shire Council approved an increase in the maximum turbine hub height from 112m to 139m, and tip height from 180m to 220m, to minimise the risk of collision for Black Cockatoos.

Stanford University earth science and engineering expert Professor Roland N Horne will chair an international review panel for New Zealand’s supercritical geothermal exploration project, NZ Resources and Regional Development Minister Shane Jones announced in Nevada. The technical design team for the project includes experts from Mercury NZ, Contact Energy, Upflow NZ, Geode Well Engineering and Earth Sciences NZ.

Policy

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Resources Minister Madeleine King called for bipartisanship over proposed environmental laws and standards. “It’s up to the Opposition whether they want to support a more efficient and more effective system of regulatory approvals for the mining industry,” she told The West, with a US$8.5 billion pipeline of priority projects at stake. The draft bill, due to be introduced this week, has faced early resistance, even without a climate trigger, with the Coalition and Greens raising concerns over the definition of “unacceptable impact” — designed to give projects a quicker “no” — and the scope of stop-work powers. (Sky)

The Nationals’ Senator Matt Canavan says he hasn’t done any modelling on the cost of getting rid of Australia’s net-zero policy suite. “There's a role for modelling, but the old saying is also true that if you ask an economist how to open a can of tuna, they'll say — let's assume that we have a can opener. So you have to be careful,” he told ABC’s Insiders. “I've spoken to businesses, economists, unions. I have met with green activist groups on the investment side just last week. I met with some conservation groups. I pretty much live and breathe and sleep net-zero.” He’ll present his review to the party room today. (ABC)

Regulation

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Amid an unprecedented surge in electricity demand, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright directed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to make a rule to increase federal control over how large electricity users connect to the grid, with the goal of accelerating the construction of data centers and their power sources.

Technology

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AEMO is trialling new approaches to maintain power system security as the grid transitions to high renewables, commencing procurement and directly requesting offers to deliver the Type 2 transitional services trials. Statements of Need have been issued for Black Start from inverter-based resources (IBRs), System Restart under High DPV Conditions, Grid-Forming Inverter Protection-Quality Fault Current, and Zero Synchronous Generation.

Climate

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One of Opposition Leader Sussan Ley’s strongest supporters has effectively endorsed Labor’s 2035 target while warning the Liberal Party has lost its way on climate change, underscoring deep divisions within Coalition. Liberal senator Andrew McLachlan told The Australian a “true conservative” would back strong action to safeguard the environment and reduce carbon emissions.

Farmers hosting renewable energy infrastructure are facing backlash amongst their communities, including threats of violence. In a letter published by The Land newspaper and signed by 10 farmers, signatories claim heated rhetoric from politicians opposed to renewable energy is fuelling anger and dividing communities. (The Age)

Research

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Australia, relying on voluntary guidelines, risks missing out on global research collaborations because it lacks a national policy on protecting research from espionage, foreign interference, and misuse, Southern Cross University law academic Brendan Walker-Munro warned ahead of the EU Research Security Conference in Brussels this week. “The EU has already made research security part of its law. Australia still treats it as paperwork,” he said.

Random

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“Even dragging logs up to your cave and lighting a fire as a caveman would cost you more than the wind here,” Andrew Forrest said, opening Squadron Energy’s billion-dollar Clarke Creek wind farm, located between Rockhampton and Mackay in central Queensland. (ABC)

What's On

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October 27​
​The real costs of the transition

Powerlink CEO Paul Simshauser will speak at this lunchtime webinar brought to you by us here at The Energy, alongside Aurecon Managing Director, Energy (Australia) Paul Gleeson, and Southerly Ten Chief Development Officer Erin Coldham, moderated by Beyond Zero Emissions CEO Heidi Lee.

October 29-30​
All Energy Australia

Victorian Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio, incoming Clean Energy Council CEO Jackie Trad and Pacific Green CEO Joel Alexander are among the speakers at this year’s All Energy event in Melbourne.

October 30​
National Press Club

Environment Minister Murray Watt will address the National Press Club on “Environmental law reform – it’s now or never” at this Canberra event.

November 5​
WA Energy Outlook

Rebecca Brown, Director General of WA’s Department of Energy and Economic Diversification, Horizon Power EGM Future Energy Vi Garrood, and EDL CEO James Harman are among the speakers at this CEDA event in Perth.

November 5​
National Press Club

Outgoing ASIC Chair Joe Longo will address the National Press Club on “Open for opportunity: Taking charge of the future of our financial markets” at this Canberra event.

November 6​
ANU Solar Oration

Merryn York, who has led system design at AEMO, will speak at this Canberra event, following an opening statement by ACT Energy Minister Suzanne Orr.

November 12​
National Press Club

Japan’s Ambassador to Australia Kazuhiro Suzuki will address the National Press Club on "Girt by sea and in the same boat: 50 years of Japan-Australia relations and beyond” at this Canberra event.

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