Skip to Content
Project overview
  • Lead Organisation

    University of New South Wales

    Location

    Kensington, New South Wales

    ARENA Program

    Advancing Renewables Program

  • Start date

    1 January 2021

    End date

    18 January 2024

  • Project Partners
    AEMO, Solar Analytics

Summary

Project MATCH aims to better understand the behaviour of distributed energy resources (DER) as it relates to power system security. The University of New South Wales will conduct a study to investigate DER behaviour during power system disturbances.

Need

Project MATCH acknowledges that Australia is leading the world in DER installations, particularly rooftop solar. This project aims to investigate and put in place the measures required to operate a safe, secure and reliable power system with high levels of DER.

Power system disturbances can cause voltage or frequency to move outside usual limits. Previous work has shown that DER can turn off en mass during disturbances and therefore aggravate power system imbalances. DER can also act to support power system security during some events. Improving our understanding of how DER behaves can help manage these security risks and realise their potential benefits.

There is a need for high resolution data sets of DER behaviour under disturbances, analytical tools that can grapple with the complexity of their responses and an improved understanding of DER performance in the field. Together, these measures can increase the accuracy of power system models and help avoid overly conservative approaches to system operation that adversely impact DER deployment.

Action

Project MATCH (Monitoring and Analysis Toolbox for Compliance in a High DER future) aims to establish tools to understand how DER performs in the field during power system disturbances. The study aims to develop:

  • New data sets from DER during disturbances
  • Improved DER data analysis tools and techniques
  • Improved understanding of DER behaviour during disturbances.

The outputs from the project are expected to inform how the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) manages DER response to disturbances, such as implementing changes to constraints or contingency Frequency Ancillary Control Services (FCAS) requirements linked to real-time DER generation. These measures should help ensure the power system is operated safely, securely and reliably with increasing quantities of DER.

Project MATCH builds on two foundational ARENA-funded projects:

  1. Addressing barriers to efficient renewable integration
  2. Enhanced reliability through short time resolution data

Outcome

Project MATCH aims to provide AEMO and industry stakeholders with tools to better manage increasing volumes of DER. It seeks to support secure power system operation under high penetrations of DER.

Additional impact

An industry stakeholder reference group will meet throughout the course of the project and includes inverter manufacturers, energy market bodies, distribution network service providers, consumer representatives and metering companies. This will offer an important opportunity to bring key stakeholders together and discuss evidence derived using real-world data.

Last updated 10 August 2022

ARENAWIRE Blogs

Harnessing consumer-owned energy during contingency events

A new study will explore the role household energy devices can play in helping to stabilise the network after major disturbances.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Back to top