This report provides an overview of the demand response provided by Flow Power across New South Wales for the ARENA Demand Response Trial. The knowledge and lessons shared is for the period between June 2019 – November 2019.
Report extract
Flow Power’s second year of the ARENA DR Trial very much continued the theme of the first year – a fully committed and recruited customer base utilising traditional DR loads in the commercial and industrial space.
There were no live activations during this period, as per previous program periods. This reflects the underlying lack of volatility and reliability concerns currently in New South Wales. This stands in contrast to Victoria and South Australia where significant reliability concerns continue to exist.
As the trial continues familiarity with the CAISO 10 of 10 baseline continues to develop, with a greater understanding of how the time of year and time of day testing occurs impacts the portfolio and specific businesses within. A testing event in the morning demonstrated clearly the impacts of time of day that the baseline has on results.
Site integration and technology is a continued focus of Flow Power’s ARENA portfolio, with the goal of fully automated and integrated DR butting heads with the commercial and operational realities of businesses. A new and interesting challenge around NMI meter installation was encountered in year two and the interactions with the Metering Data Provider involved.
Looking forward to year three of the trial Flow Power sees the continued general awareness of demand response coupled with the significant regulatory reforms underway as a boon for the growth of commercial and industrial demand response. This growth in demand response entails both emergency DR and a willingness to explore spot price exposure and the market signals.