POWERING REMOTE COMMUNITIES
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
LAUNCHES ROADMAP FOR DER INTEGRATION
Rooftop solar panels, batteries, electric vehicles and microgrids are transforming Western Australia’s electricity system. These small-scale devices, known as Distributed Energy Resources (DER), present challenges and opportunities for the way electricity is produced, managed and consumed in the state. In response to these challenges, the government has developed a DER Roadmap to ensure it can integrate growing levels of distributed resources into the state’s electricity systems in a safe and secure way.
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estern Australian Energy Minister, Bill Johnston, released the state’s Distributed Energy Resources Roadmap, produced by the government’s Energy Transformation Taskforce. The DER Roadmap is an Australian-first, five-year plan that outlines the actions the Western Australian Government must take over the next five years in order to meet these challenges and harness the potential for cleaner, more affordable energy. Actions will include pilots to determine the best ways to overcome technical, regulatory and market barriers to integrate DER into the South West Interconnected System (SWIS), including additional community batteries.
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The roadmap has been developed with significant input from industry, and will be implemented with collaboration from Energy Policy WA, Western Power, Horizon Power, Synergy and the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO).
A leader in sustainable energy DERs are devices that can either use, generate or store electricity, and form a part of the local distribution system, serving homes and businesses. DERs can include renewable generation such as rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, energy storage, electric vehicles (EVs), and technology to manage demand. Customers in the SWIS are installing DERs at outstanding rates. Now, almost one in three households in the SWIS have a rooftop solar PV system installed, with
Solar panels are increasingly popular in Western Australia, both in urban and rural areas, which is causing challenges for the state’s electricity system.
around 2000 households adding a new system each month. Customers choosing to install DERs are already enjoying the benefits of lower electricity bills, and are contributing to decarbonising the power system. As DER capabilities improve and technology costs continue to fall, customers will be able to enjoy new and greater benefits from their DER. DERs also offer additional opportunities that complement and amplify the benefits of customer investments. These opportunities include services that help
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