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Hey Reader, in today's edition:
- A VPP boost
- Eraring closure still under a cloud
- Defining the role for a consumer duty
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‘Democratising energy’ with VPP tech
A Western Australian start-up will go nationwide with discounted loans for rooftop solar, home batteries and access to virtual power plant (VPP) technology under a $35 million deal with the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
Funded under the federal Home Energy Upgrades Fund (HEUF), the new offerings from Starling Energy Group, which operates an end-to-end solar, battery and VPP service through its retail brand Plico, are tipped to save households around $1,100 on energy bills each year.
Robbie Campbell, CEO of Starling Energy Group, said Plico was committed to “democratising energy” through affordable solar and battery plans with generous VPP rewards and active participation in grid stability.
“Innovative, smart energy solutions like Plico’s will continue to gain in importance in building clean, affordable, and resilient energy systems. By connecting an existing asset base at minimal cost to provide essential grid services, Plico’s VPP helps avoid costly investments into grid upgrades while creating a shared profit for the company and its customers.”
Richard Braakenburg, co-CIO of Plico backer SUSI Partners
Using VPP technology to aggregate and coordinate solar generation and battery storage, a network of distributed or consumer energy resources can act as a single, large power plant, which helps to support the grid during peak demand periods, save on overall infrastructure costs, and reward participants with financial benefits such as bill credits.
“The clean energy revolution is well underway, and Australians have embraced the opportunity to reduce costs and emissions at the same time by becoming the world leader in rooftop solar. As older coal-fired power comes to end-of-life, technology like VPPs are key to ensuring we maintain an agile and responsive energy system that benefits all Australians.”
Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy Josh Wilson
Some $4.1 billion in additional grid-scale investment would be required to support the National Electricity Market (NEM) without effective coordination of home battery systems, according to the Australian Energy Market Operator’s (AEMO) system plan.
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Expert view
“As Australia transitions to a more decentralised and decarbonised energy system, new consumer energy models like VPPs are essential. By tapping into the dispatchable energy capacity of households, coordinated technologies like rooftop solar, home batteries and other consumer energy resources can help stabilise the grid, reduce energy costs, improve system reliability, and maximise the value of renewable energy investments.
This investment supports long-term energy system efficiency and highlights the role of smart, flexible technology in delivering better outcomes for both consumers and the grid.”
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Ian Learmonth
CEO, Clean Energy Finance Corporation
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Eraring closure still under a cloud
Origin Energy told the AFR it was up to the company “to make a good decision, which we’ll do with our customers and energy security for the people of New South Wales in mind,” after the Australian Energy Market Operator warned the planned August 2027 closure of its coal-fired Eraring power station risked blackouts in NSW.
AEMO’s second Transition Plan for System Security, out today, presents the plan for maintaining power system security through the transition, and is still a relatively new obligation under the National Electricity Rules.
It comes as Transgrid has faced challenges acquiring the syncons it says are required to maintain system stability in the wake of Eraring’s closure, amid worldwide demand for spinning machines as more and more coal-fired power stations are removed.
Transgrid's Executive General Manager of Network Jason Krstanoski will speak this Friday at The Energy's Keeping the lights on webinar.
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Wrong way, go back
Australia’s energy market needs to be redesigned, re-formed and recalibrated, argues Monash University Professorial Fellow and former Essential Services Commission Chair Ron Ben-David in a new paper setting out a framework for a consumer duty as a corrective market design mechanism.
The government is currently considering a consumer duty as part of its Better Energy Customer Experiences work. Such a duty would require service providers to act in the best interests of a customer, taking into account the customer’s circumstances.
Ben-David, who first proposed the idea four years ago, says the duty shouldn’t be thought of as an alternative form of consumer protection, but rather a way of rebalancing the burden of responsibility between consumers and service providers.
Transgrid
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Expert view
“Layer upon layer of regulated consumer protections have been applied over the past 25 years by various jurisdictions and regulators. Protections have been universally reactive. They have sought to salve an observed symptom rather than identify and tackle its cause.
Layers of protection have been invented without anyone stopping to ask the most basic question of all: From what do consumers need protecting?
he designers of the consumer energy market overestimated consumers’ capacity to hold retailers to account and underestimated retailers’ ability to evade competitive accountability. Alternatively stated, the market was designed for consumers who, for the most part, do not exist.
The market designed and overseen by its regulators is the wrong market for most of the people it was created to serve. It needs to be redesigned. Re-formed. Recalibrated. Herein lies the answer to why we’re talking about a consumer duty”
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Ron Ben-David
Professorial Fellow, Monash University
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Capital
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The APAC 2026 Outlook from Moody's Ratings predicts Australia’s power demand will grow in line with population growth over the next 12-18 months. The continued development of data centres is expected to drive demand in the longer term. The renewable energy transition faces challenges, primarily because of the immense scale and complexity of the required investment - up to A$190 billion in new generation and network infrastructure by 2035 - and infrastructure transformation. Achieving national targets will require the pace of renewable energy rollout to effectively double compared to recent years, creating a risk of slippages and delays, the report found, tipping a 20-35% rise in wholesale and retail electricity prices by 2035.
Murdoch-owned media companies Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post wrongfully blamed high electricity bills on “green-energy mandates” in op-eds and coverage from August to October this year, according to US watchdog Media Matters. (Inside Climate News)
 Projects
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Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Energy plans to produce up to 210 terajoules of gas a day from its Belisama gas project, starting in 2029, potentially supplying up to 20% of WA’s gas demand and countering a forecast shortage. Underground pipelines will connect to a gas-processing plant, built on a farm owned by Hancock Energy, under plans to be submitted to the WA Environmental Protection Authority. Another underground pipeline will take the processed gas to the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline, about 15km away. (Boiling Cold)
The first of more than 800 transmission towers, which will require more than 52,000 tonnes of structural steel and over 9,300km of high-voltage conductor, have been erected near Wagga Wagga on the long-delayed and nation-critical HumeLink. Transgrid CEO Brett Redman said HumeLink would unlock the full capacity of Snowy 2.0 and other new renewable energy generators, delivering cleaner and cheaper electricity to millions of consumers and providing an additional 2,200MW of on-demand energy into the grid.
Policy
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The DomGas Alliance, representing companies including Alcoa (ASX: AAI), Yara Australia and Wesfarmers’ (ASX: WES) chemical division, warned against repeating the mistakes that allowed producers such as Woodside Energy (ASX: WDS) to legally skirt promises made under WA’s domestic gas reserve, which could be used as a model for a reservation scheme covering the rest of the country. (AFR)
Canada’s federal government will scrap a planned emissions cap on the oil and gas sector and drop rules on clean electricity, in exchange for a commitment by top oil-producing province Alberta to strengthen industrial carbon pricing and support a carbon capture-and-storage project. (Reuters) (Japan Times)
Australia’s east coast grid is being built on a model that assumes wind power will never fall below 14% of its generation capacity for multiple days but last year’s autumn wind drought shows wind collapsing to about half that level during three separate week-long slumps, threatening energy and national security, according to Queensland-based consultancy Global Power Energy. (The Australian)
A new peak body, Data Centres Australia, intends to influence “planning and development, energy, water and workforce” challenges from the rise of AI. “We know the complexity and scale of building infrastructure is different from the conventional ways we’ve built data centres, and we are also bumping up against the energy transition, which is throwing up some real challenges,” CEO Belinda Dennett said. Members include AirTrunk, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, NEXTDC, Schneider Electric and TikTok. (AFR)
New Zealand’s Waitangi Tribunal found the Crown's decision to exclude the nation’s foundational Treaty from the geothermal strategy would be a Treaty breach, but there was still time to make amendments before the strategy is finalised. (RNZ)
Climate
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Carbon Brief reported on the confused and at times contradictory story on which countries and negotiating blocs at COP30 blocked a roadmap for transitioning away from fossil fuels from being included in the final mutirão deal at the UN climate summit in Belém. Australia was on the 85-strong list of roadmap supporters.
Random
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Anthony Albanese and Jodie Haydon were married at The Lodge on Saturday in an Australian political first. (BBC) (Guardian) (SMH) (The Australian)
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What's On
December 5
Keeping the lights on - syncons vs batteries
Mark Twidell, Industry Professor of Practice at the UNSW Energy Institute, and Transgrid Executive General Manager of Network Jason Krstanoski will speak at this webinar from The Energy, moderated by UNSW Energy Institute CEO Dani Alexander.
December 8
The Energy Charter CEO Council Forum
SA Power Networks CEO Andrew Bills will join Essential Energy CEO John Cleland, EnergyAustralia CEO Mark Collette, Energy Charter CEO Sabiene Heindl and AusNet Services CEO David Smales at this online event on “delivering better customer + community outcomes”.
December 9, Sydney and December 11, Melbourne
Energy Tetris
The Energy’s first live event will feature Quinbrook CEO Brian Restall, Energy Security Corporation CEO Paul Peters, Southerly Ten Chief Development Officer Erin Coldham, Hydro Tasmania Chairman Richard Bolt, Westwind Managing Director Tobias Geiger, Atmos Renewables GM of Development Allison Hawke, RWE Renewables APAC Head of Regulatory Affairs Matthew Dickie, ASL GM System Planning & Financial Markets, Melanie Koerner, UNSW Associate Professor Iain MacGill and Senior Research Associate Dylan McConnell and Energy Edge MD Josh Stabler.
December 17
Public Forum: AusNet Transmission Revenue Proposal 2027-32
The Australian Energy Regulator will host an online public forum for stakeholders to ask questions about AusNet's 2027-32 transmission revenue proposal.
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