This report documents assesses each of Project Symphony’s work packages against a rubric that measures technology and commercial maturity. This rubric aligns with:
- A comprehensive life-cycle framework for Distributed Energy Resources (DER) integration and orchestration
- The Australian Renewable Energy Agency’s (ARENA) maturity matrices, which include technology readiness levels (TRL 1-9) and the commercial readiness index (CRI 1-6).
Report extract
Project Symphony is a pilot project where customer distributed energy resources (DER) like rooftop solar, battery energy storage and other major appliances, like air conditioning, will be orchestrated as a virtual power plant (VPP) to participate in a future energy market and unlock greater economic and environmental benefits for customers and the wider community.
A collaboration between Western Power, Synergy, AEMO and Energy Policy WA, with funding from ARENA, the Project will understand how the opportunities and challenges of increasing DER can be managed to ensure a reliable, secure, and affordable electricity system. To achieve this purpose, the Project will design, procure, develop, implement, and test software based ‘platforms’ capable of registering, aggregating and orchestrating customer DER to provide ‘must have’ on-market and off-market scenarios.
Between April and June 2023, Project Symphony conducted a successful 90-day trial of four scenarios—Balancing Market, Network Support Services, Constrain to Zero, and Essential System Services Contingency Raise—at the zone substation level. The system was operational 99% of the time, but compliance rates were varied across the four scenarios. In addition, and as was considered possible at the outset of the Pilot that proposed stretch goals towards an “on-market” trial, the technology and commercial maturity of DER orchestration was constrained by many of these tests being undertaken in an “off-market” environment.
Ernst & Young’s analysis revealed a positive Net Present Value (NPV) of $280 million to $920 million, reflecting the potential of co-optimised network and market services. However, the sufficient financial value wasn’t evident for all stakeholders mainly the DSO and aggregators, suggesting a need for policy adjustments to ensure equitable benefits and participation in future DER orchestration.
