BI G DATA
BIG DATA SUPPORTING THE NEW ENERGY PARADIGM by Ruchika Deora, Program Director, The Centre for New Energy Technologies (C4NET)
Australia’s transition to a new energy future will not be a smooth one without a massive shift in operational and market management.
T
he rapid uptake of hyperlocalised, consumer driven technologies is upon us. Current solar, heating and cooling, electric vehicle (EV) and storage trends, collectively known as Distributed Energy Resources (DER), require systematic management to ensure we maintain a cost-efficient, secure and reliable electricity supply that also supports our environmental objectives. But the path to successfully integrating and accommodating these DER is littered with political hurdles, conjecture and technical and regulatory complexity. Traditional power system planning and assessment tools must evolve to better serve customer and market requirements. This means industry requires new ways to ensure network and market stability. Thankfully, the recent democratisation of multiple data streams means that the opportunities to use detailed analysis to inform our system planning do exist. However, access to reliable electricity consumption data will be key to ensuring that evidence-based decision making will guide the entire sector into our new energy paradigm.
DATA ACCESS SERVICES The Centre for New Energy Technologies (C4NET) has access to this energy consumption data as well as the experts to be able to model
32
this data to provide useful insights to any interested party. Its Data Access Services now allow any interested group to request its aggregated data. As a first step, we need to utilise all available evidence and data at hand to forge our pathway forward. These two terms are often used interchangeably but there is a difference and it is important to understand the nuance between the two. The former is the narrative for defining and understanding where we have been and where the sector needs to go; from one-way delivery of electricity to multi-directional power flows. Data on the other hand is the instrument that enables and gives credibility to this narrative. Both are required to advance change in any industry, but for reasons still unknown, we often fall to one or the other, rarely leveraging them together to create a complete pathway for multiple stakeholders to accomplish our objectives. Big data was originally associated with three key concepts: volume, variety, and velocity, better defined as how much, how many types and how fast. But recently, two arguably more important “Vs” have emerged – value and veracity. Data itself can have intrinsic value, but can be worthless until that value is uncovered and applied. Equally, without veracity – how
UTILITY • FEBRUARY 2022
truthful is your data and how reliable it is – your data has no value. In the past, detailed visibility of low voltage systems wasn’t necessary to efficiently manage the secure and cost-effective supply of electricity to consumers. But, as more consumers become generators and exporters of electricity, local power quality maintenance is essential in meeting policy and compliance objectives. Confidence in network performance i.e. voltage management and line impedance, is fundamental for system and market planners to manage bi-directional power flows to meet customer needs. It would not be a stretch to say that the current system of modelling growth and capacity is not keeping pace with the commercialisation of consumer technologies that influence power system operations. But it does not have to be so. For instance, AMI meter data can inform what is happening on the network at specific times and locations, from how much electricity load is being exported onto or drawn from feeders and transformers. Other new forms of modelling AMI data can assist in phase grouping of customers, topology estimates, impedance levels of distribution lines and service cables and identification of unmetered loads. This level of visibility enables more uptake of new DER and renewable
WWW.UTILITYMAGAZINE.COM.AU
