Australia’s electricity network is the backbone of our energy supply. One of the major challenges facing the sector today is how to streamline the integration of renewables into this system as increasing numbers of Australians are turning to renewable energy to deliver affordable clean energy.
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has a central role in accelerating this shift to renewables, and ensuring it happens with minimal impact on energy security and reliability. A powerful way to achieve this is to ensure the innovators who are embarking on grid integration projects are sharing knowledge with each other.
The Renewables Integration Stocktake is an ARENA-supported project that does exactly that. The Stocktake is a central database of Australian and international renewable energy grid integration projects designed to assist in knowledge sharing across the industry.
ARENA collaborated with the Energy Networks Association (ENA) and others to create the first stocktake in 2014. This valuable resource is updated each year, making it possible to tap into up-to-date information that wouldn’t otherwise be readily accessible. The latest version has been released this week and includes 233 grid integration projects.
ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht said sharing this data and lessons learnt was vital to integrating renewables into grids.
“Enabling renewables and grids to work together effectively is critical to increasing the supply of renewable energy in Australia,” Mr Frischknecht said.
“The transition from centralised power generation from large power plants to more de-centralised renewable energy has its challenges. Initiatives like the Stocktake – an industry led resource – can help developers, investors and operators better understand the characteristics and potential of renewable technologies.”
More information
Energy Networks Australia media release 21 Dec 2016 – Advanced database supports Grid Integration of Renewables
