‘Liberals Against Nuclear’ campaign against Dutton’s pledge

Fearing fallout at the looming federal election, a new advocacy group "Liberals Against Nuclear" launched an advertising campaign that urges Peter Dutton to dump his nuclear policy.

The nuclear policy was driving free market and middle ground voters directly to the teals and other independents in must-win seats, former Tasmanian Liberal director Andrew Gregson warned.

“If nuclear energy is so good, then the market will back it without massive government intervention,” he said.

Tech driving a diversified and sustainable energy mix

The prospect of regulatory change, cybersecurity for power grids and manufacturers, and the pursuit of sustainability were top of mind for industrial customers in Australia, and worldwide, according to software giant AVEVA.

Speaking to The Energy on the sidelines of the Schneider Electric Innovation Summit in Sydney, AVEVA’s Power & Utilities Industry Principal Ann Moore said there was a need for better asset planning, risk management and risk assessment using technology. Innovation, particularly in orchestrating distributed energy resources, was crucial for power utilities as renewables replaced centralised generation, she warned.

AVEVA Chief Product Officer Rob McGreevy said Australia’s current attitude, the governance spend, and existing regulatory compliance was favourable and was advancing a more diversified and sustainable energy mix.

McGreevy said he expected Europe’s Cyber Resilience Act, which came into force in December, would likely be adopted by many companies as it unfolds over coming years, in the same way that their data privacy approach was adopted as best practice.

The energy sector was also in a “good position” on capturing data in a trusted way, which renewables would benefit from as more came online. “It’s the same infrastructure than we capture, the utility usage, vibration, thermal, all the data that’s used to feed the grid all serve us in that same place,” he said.

Actionable insights:

• Adopt prescriptive and predictive analytics to improve forecasting and asset planning.
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• A digital backbone for generation and distribution, similar to software used by AGL and Duke Energy, can slash downtime by reducing failures in equipment.
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• Embrace generative AI to rapidly train new workers and improve efficiency.

What have you done for the grid lately?

While gripes about new transmission timeframes were common at the Schneider summit, on-stage guests painted a picture of a utopian future with greater orchestration between industrial energy users and suppliers.

Getting demand and supply to play well together will require incentives, flexible loads and orchestration, said Lisa Zembrodt, senior director of sustainability business at Schneider Electric.

“Those with flexible loads need to be incentivised to provide flexibility to the grid.

“All the investments that businesses are making today need to be geared towards improving that flexibility of demand. And we need more orchestration. We need a grid that's capable of enabling that collaboration between supply and demand side,” Zembrodt said.

So how does that work in practice?

Byron Ross, COO of ‘green steam’ company Graphite Energy said the company was working with one of the Distributed Network Energy Suppliers (DNSPs) on a special tariff that helps customers electrify with access to “poles and wires that are sized for a peak load that they hit 1 percent of the time”.

“And so what we're working with them on there is a real time capacity signal for their assets that lets the customer have, let's say a concessional tariff, that lets them buy the energy when it's in the market cheap,” Ross said.

“It lets the DNSP not have to overbuild the infrastructure, and also allows them to connect more rooftop solar in these kind of zone substation areas.”

Insider tips on winning energy storage tenders

Volatility, negative prices and outages should be seen as a positive, a summit has been told.

AEMO Services, an independent subsidiary of the Australian Energy Market Operator, has the inside track on the energy transition as a delivery partner of the Capacity Investment Scheme and trustee under the NSW Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap.

General Manager, Commercial, Thimo Mueller shared tips at the Energy Storage Summit in Sydney as bidders prepare for the next tender, with storage and hybrid solar and battery projects increasingly vital for hitting renewable targets.

“Right now, we are seeing a typical revenue of a storage project comes from market arbitrage, which is basically buy low (taking advantage of negative pricing) and then sell high (into the evening peak). And there are additional grid services that a project can earn revenue from,” Mueller said.

“I want to make one thing clear though. Our tenders are not about lowest cost. They are about value for money,” Mueller said.

“The longer the duration, the higher the benefit to the market,” he added.

What to keep in mind:

• There are four key drivers – duration, location, timing, and social licence.
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• Current targets are minimum targets, and if a need is identified for more reliability in NSW then more will be procured.
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• Projects are assessed on financial and non-financial criteria.
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• Be ready to be operational by 2030.

Expert view - Elias Saba, CTO at Eku Energy

Expert view - Simon Brooker, Country Director, Zenobe

CATCH UP

The Victorian government corrected what it said was a false claim made in The Australian that it, along with Energy Australia and AEMO had held talks about extending the operations of Yallourn Power Station beyond 2028. “AEMO has not advised the Victorian Government that Yallourn would need to be extended beyond 2028, as claimed in The Australian,” Victorian Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said in a statement.

We need a plan for gas, according to AEMC Commissioner Tim Jordan “We have a very good plan at a system level for the electricity transition, but no such clarity yet about a system-level plan for gas. That lack of clarity makes investing in gas, and regulating the gas system, challenging. The risk is that we veer off track and put carbon reduction goals out of reach,” he said in a speech to CEDA.

Farmers for Climate Action want a piece of the action on half-price batteries. The “It’s time to back batteries” campaign launched by the Clean Energy Council should be extended to farmers to reduce their energy costs, and therefore food prices, NSW farmer Peter Holding said. Rebates were found to be more effective than no-interest loans, he added, citing data from Victoria and South Australia.

Demand for green jet fuel in Asia is expected to lag behind supply due to the absence of uniform policies and mandates across the region, Reuters reported, with the end result being exports and lower prices.

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation signed an MOU with Lannock Strata Finance to develop a green strata loan product that would make it cheaper and easier for owners corporations to install rooftop solar in apartment buildings.

Energy Vault (NYSE: NRGV) announced a deal to acquire the 125 MW Stoney Creek BESS from Enervest Group. The project, with a build cost of $350 million, was recently one of three to secure a 14-year agreement as part of the NSW government’s latest long duration storage tender.

FRV Australia said it had acquired ACEN Australia’s 140 MW Axedale solar project and 50 MW BESS for an undisclosed sum. FRV, which is owned by Saudi group Jameel Energy and the Canadian infrastructure fund OMERS, said the project was “nearing completion of permitting”.

David Scaysbrook’s Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners said it had secured financing of up to GBP 238.5 million for what will be the largest solar + battery project in the UK. The project has already secured support under the UK government’s 15-year Contract for Difference auction scheme, an offtake agreement with Tesco PLC for 65 per cent of the solar generation, and a 15-year Capacity Market Agreement for the BESS.

The UK published a Technical Decision Document confirming crucial aspects of its long duration electricity storage (LDES) cap-and-floor scheme, which includes increasing the minimum duration required from six hours to eight, Energy Storage News reported.

Energy debt and the amount of debt retail energy customers have before entering hardship programs spiked over the last 12 months, according to the latest data from the Australian Energy Regulator. While state government rebate programs are helping drive down the total number of electricity customers on hardship programs, average residential energy debt increased by $301 (27.5 per cent) to $1395. Nationally, 2.9 per cent of residential customers are in energy debt.

WA Premier Roger Cook’s new cabinet will be sworn in on Wednesday. As well as appointing a dedicated minister for each region, the new cabinet’s Economic Diversification and Manufacturing portfolios will put some flesh on the bones of the “Made in WA” election pitch. Amber-Jade Sanderson will be the new Minister for Energy and Decarbonisation as well as Manufacturing, Skills and TAFE, and the Pilbara, replacing Reece Whitby who was previously Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Action. David Michael retains the role of Minister for Mines and Petroleum and adds Finance, Electoral Affairs, and the Goldfields-Esperance region, which has been promised $150 million for a 50MW vanadium battery. Establishing the state as a renewable energy powerhouse would drive the commitment to exit coal-fired power generation, help trading partners to decarbonise and ensure secure and affordable energy, Cook said.

Research

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Pumped hydro is a viable alternative to a costly nuclear energy rollout, and an option that could store Australia’s plentiful solar and wind energy, according to researchers from the Australian National University.

ANU engineering research officer Timothy Weber and professor of engineering Andrew Blakers applied their ‘global atlas’ that identifies potential locations for pumped hydro facilities around the world to find pumped hydro options near the sites the Coalition has chosen for nuclear power plants. They found 7 that they argue would be suitable.

Meanwhile, research from economist Bruce Mountain at the Victoria Energy Policy Centre takes aim at the market dominance of Snowy 2.0. It finds that Snowy Hydro has withdrawn Tumut 3’s capacity in order to maximise its proceeds, across its portfolio of generation, in the provision of peaking generation in NSW.

Researchers from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre proposed a novel data filtering method designed to improve electricity price forecasting by effectively identifying and replacing extreme prices.
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What's on

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Tasmania’s Minister for Energy and Renewables Nick Duigan will give the keynote to open day two of the Energy Storage Australia conference in Sydney on Wednesday March 19.

Climate Change Authority Chair Matt Kean will speak at the Climate Investor Forum on March 19. Other speakers include Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners co-founder David Scaysbrook, APAC managing director for BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners Valerie Speth, Climate Asset Management chief investment officer Ben O’Donnell, IFM Investors executive director for infrastructure Marigold Look, Pollination MD Megan Flynn, Admantem Capital MD Andrew Bullock and Trawalla Group MD Alan Schwartz.