The Western Australian Government has released the Distributed Energy Resources Roadmap, which will help tackle the challenges of a changing energy system.
Customers across the country are embracing household solar and batteries at a world-leading rate, and Western Australia is among the highest adopters of the technology.
Produced by the WA Government’s Energy Transformation Taskforce, the roadmap is an Australian first, five-year plan that outlines the actions that need to be taken over the next five years in order to meet current challenges and harness the potential for cleaner, more affordable energy.
Rooftop solar panels, batteries, electric vehicles and microgrids are transforming Western Australia’s electricity system. These small-scale devices, known as Distributed Energy Resources (DER), present challenges and opportunities for the way the state produces, manages and consumes electricity.
Actions will include pilots to determine the best ways to overcome technical, regulatory and market barriers to integrate DER into our grid, including additional community batteries.
Energy Networks Australia CEO Andrew Dillon said the roadmap addresses DER integration issues.
“We are moving rapidly from a system dominated by a few large-scale thermal generators to one with more decentralised generation from millions of rooftops,” Mr Dillon said.
He said the focus on tariff trials to encourage more efficient uses of electricity and grid-scale batteries to provide security for the WA system are key steps to enable the energy transformation.
“Energy networks around the country are working to accommodate the massive rise in household solar and storage,” he said.
“This process will involve both new technology but also the need to provide clear incentives for customers to signal when energy use will be most efficient for the system.
“Being smarter about how customers are charged for their energy consumption will maximise the benefits from household solar and battery storage devices.”