Western Power – Project Symphony – Pilot Results and Recommendations
This report was originally published by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) of the Australian Government, in April 2024.Project Symphony’s final report presents the 18 recommendations found whilst assessing the viability of DER orchestration. These actionable recommendations are highlighted through the framework of four ‘pillars’. This being Technical, Customer, Value, and Policy & Regulation.
Report extract
In Western Australia (WA), the energy transition is progressing at pace. It’s being driven by customer adoption of new technologies and government policy. This transformation is being enabled by key actors in the Wholesale Electricity Market (WEM) value chain in the South West Interconnected System (SWIS): Western Power, Synergy, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) and the WA State Government through Energy Policy WA (EPWA).
WA has some of the highest levels of Distributed Energy Resources (DER) globally, with 35% of homes having a rooftop solar system installed. WA is experiencing an increase in the adoption of distributed battery energy storage, while also actively preparing for the inevitable electrification of transport via the take up of electric vehicles (EVs) and associated charging equipment.
Broad macroeconomic and environmental factors are driving the transformation, with forecasted SWIS electricity demand growth necessitating significant new capacity by 2032, as indicated by AEMO’s 2023 Electricity Statement of Opportunities process and EPWA’s SWIS Demand Assessment. Additionally, changes in small customer consumption patterns resulting from continued growth in air-conditioning demand and the uptake of electric vehicles, are forecast to require significant and costly upgrades to the distribution network. Given these factors, cleaner energy sources, including DER, are required to assume a greater role in the power system to support growing demand and alleviate stress on the network, while also responding to the increasing sentiment from customers to decarbonise.
