SM ART GRIDS
PROJECT SYMPHONY: WESTERN AUSTRALIA’S ENERGY FUTURE
T
he way energy is generated, managed, and consumed is rapidly changing. Driven by near perfect solar conditions and consumers’ desire for cleaner, lower cost energy, Western Australia now has one in three households with rooftop solar. In energy terms, this is equivalent to almost 2GW of renewable energy, collectively representing the largest and cleanest source of electricity generation on the South-West Interconnected System (SWIS). In response to the rapidly changing sector, the Western Australian Government has been delivering on its Distributed Energy Resources (DER) Roadmap, with Project Symphony key to its delivery. The innovative pilot project has been designed to ‘orchestrate’ approximately 900 DER assets across 500 homes and businesses in the Southern River area of Perth, into a VPP. Delivered in collaboration between Western Power, Synergy, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) and the Western Australian Government, the project aims to understand how the opportunities and challenges of
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UTILITY • AUGUST 2022
increasing DER can be managed through orchestration of VPP’s by piloting a version of the `Open Energy Networks’ (OpEN) hybrid model. The hybrid model defines roles and responsibilities for transitioning to a two-way power grid, enabling better integration of customer DER. It also outlines three key roles for Project Symphony partners: Distribution Systems Operator (Western Power), Aggregator (Synergy), and Distribution Market Operator (AEMO). While ensuring the energy system can respond to challenges during times of peak distributed solar generation, Project Symphony is also aiming to deliver more value to customers from their assets, enabling them to participate in future energy markets and services. Recently, the project achieved a significant milestone with the successful testing of the intelligent systems that are required to simulate a market which orchestrated the first package of customer energy over a bi-directional balancing market trading interval. The system integration testing saw seven organisations, including technology partners and project partners across five
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