Table 3.

Research roadmap for N3 Local DER Network Solutions Opportunity Assessment

Expected Start RO4 Electric Vehicles and RO5 Energy Storage

Priority (2023 - 2024)

6. Harnessing fluctuating EV storage +

8. Storage technologies feasibility study for community storage application (3 years)

RO6 Advanced Technologies

12. Urban Renewable Energy Zones +

14. Context-aware network capacity assessment for DER deployment (3 years)

RO8 Microgrids and VPPs

19. Analysis for cost-effective embedded and standalone microgrids +

22. Power electronics dominated power system (3 years)

Mid term 2025

11. Design of reconfigurable self-healing battery packs for central batteries (2 years)

13. Synthetic inertia measurement/estimation for inverter-interfaced distributed generators (1 year)

24. Network and grid impacts of VPP (2 years)

2026

7. EV Trial project (1 year)

9. Assessment of the energy storage capability of closed mines (2 years)

15. Robust prediction of solar energy generation by DER (2 years)

20. Consistent microgrid design and operation framework (1 year)

25. VPPs and microgrids (3 years)

2027

23. Innovative control architecture (1 year)

2028

Long term 2029

10. Green hydrogen powered remote area microgrids (3 years)

16. Automated health assessment of DER in rural regions (2 years)

17. Ransomware prevention for DER (2 years)

21. Open-source decision support tool for designing and operating microgrids (2 years)

The findings and outcomes from the research proposed in this roadmap will pave the way to transition the local distribution networks in Australia to host high percentage of DER while minimising the negative impacts of DER to the power systems. Furthermore, the holistic and inclusive approach of project formulation ensures the transition in technical solutions are equally facilitated in parallel by the necessary transformations in regulatory, business and social aspects. Thus, the projects will have wide-ranging positive impacts to all the relevant sectors during Australia’s fast-paced journey towards net zero future.

1. I NTRODUCTION

1.1 Project s cope

This project investigates local distributed energy resource network solutions, which is a Theme in RACE for 2030’s Networks program, providing analysis to support the development of cost-effective embedded and islanded microgrids and investigating storage as a service, particularly for distributed community batteries

Analysis to support the development of cost effective embedded and islanded microgrids aims to develop economic and technical options for supporting cost-effective adoption of islanded and embedded microgrids. This project investigation covers microgrids that operate autonomously or semi-autonomously from the main grid through to stand-alone microgrids (also known as stand-alone power systems — SAPS, and remote area power systems — RAPS). Consumer benefits and participation, and community engagement, are also central to this sub-theme.

Storage as a Servic e - d istributed community batteries will analyse how, and in which contexts, communityscale batteries on the low and medium voltage network can deliver outcomes superior to both large, centralised batteries and small, household-scale batteries. The investigation covers the benefits of community batteries across all parts of the supply chain (low voltage network, medium voltage network and sub-transmission,) and their operation, as well as their interaction with the large-scale generation fleet. In this context, they provide potential benefits in areas such as voltage management and frequency support. Moreover, community storage interacts with both customers and other market participants through a range of regulatory constructs and business models. This sub-theme covers all of these interactions while positioning consumer interests and perspectives at its centre

These research themes represent extensive areas of investigation. Consultation with stakeholders and the projects industry reference group produced a set of focused problems and recommended priority research concepts for future development.

1.2 Stakeholder e nga gement

The project was well represented by both CRC industry partners and a wider group of non-CRC partners who augmented the industry reference group. These are listed in Table 4. The research partners for the project were from Curtin University, UTS, RMIT, Griffith, Monash University and CSIRO. Stakeholders were engaged through three steering group (SG) meetings, which involved researchers and core CRC industry partners, as well as two industry reference group (IRG) meetings. Steering group meetings were held over 2022 as follows:

• SG1 (April 14 2022) covered project scope, timelines and expected involvement

• SG 2 (May 26 2022) covered materials for the first IRG meeting, reviewed initial research findings, identified potential topics for inclusion in the research roadmap, and proposed research concepts to gauge partner interest

• SG3 (July 21 2022) provided an update on progress and sharing the intended pathways for the first implementation project

• SG4 (Oct 27) was combined with IRG Meeting 2 as the final partner meeting

Table 4 IRG Membership (*non-CRC industry partner)

AGL Energy Services Australian Power Institute Ausgrid Ausnet Services*

AEMO* Clean Cowra* Climate-KIC EV Energy* eleXsys Energy* Energy Consumers Australia Horizon Power NSW Department of Planning & Environment

Powerlink SA Department of Energy and Mining

Sydney Water Victoria Department of Environment, Land Water & Planning

Industry reference group meetings were held as follows:

IRG 1 (June 1 2022) discussed common scope and presented the IRG with a list of key questions around community batteries, microgrids and virtual power plants (VPPs), as well as integrated solutions for consideration in the research roadmap and to develop project proposals that have strong industry support.

IRG 2

(Oct 27 2022) provided an end-of-project summary and sought advice on the research roadmap and implementation projects

1.3 Research m ethodology

During the projects scoping stage, the RACE for 2030 CRC contributed an initial forty-three research questions to the opportunity assessments design. These questions were categorised and assigned to four work packages (Consumers and regulatory framework, Business models, Planning and design, Demonstration and operation) which delved deep and identify the most pertinent current day research gaps that need further attention.

Work Package 1: Consumers and regulatory framework

Understanding social and legal aspects in propagating microgrids, VPPs and community batteries is instrumental to the successful implementation of such technologies. Such options, either individually or collectively, cannot be successfully deployed without the active participation of stakeholders such as customers, prosumers, distributed system operators (DSOs), private investors, energy retailers, network companies and governments. This will include consideration of applicable law and regulation to identify unsolved questions, and where applicable, a global comparison of policy and regulatory settings of successful examples of microgrid integration.

Work Package 2: Business models

Accelerating the adoption of distributed energy system solutions requires innovative business models. Energy market deregulation brings in a host of challenges, many of which are yet to be addressed. Affordable IoT technologies facilitate new business model realisations such as VPPs, aggregators and blockchain-mediated transactions in the energy sector. Questions explored in this work package included the relationship between incumbent retailers and distribution networks, the most appropriate mix of ownership structures for microgrid assets and community batteries, financing models for development and operation, and how VPPs and microgrids can both be facilitated when they overlap.

Work Package 3: Planning and design

Realising the best economic and social benefits from local distributed energy resource (DER) network solutions is heavily dependent on how well the state-of-the-art technology is integrated in the planning and design of new power systems. Some of the key questions investigated included which regions and areas are most suitable for microgrids, VPPs with and without community batteries, finding ways to fuse new data technologies such as machine-learning and AI within novel power systems, understanding the capability limits of inverter-based generators, and maximising the benefits of existing grid network through the use of smart-grid technologies.

Work Package 4: Demonstration and o peration

Both embedded and isolated microgrids have been implemented in many countries. In Australia, net zero energy projects have been implemented by various universities and industry. However, rapid uptake of local DER solutions can only be promoted through innovative approaches applied on top of the current best practices. This report investigated the practices that need to be adopted to accelerate the growth of renewable energy to meet local consumer energy needs.

The literature review drew on a wide spectrum of reference materials, concentrating predominantly on industry technical reports and technical websites. This reflected the fast-moving nature of this domain, where the latest information is best obtained directly from practitioners and industry. Research questions identified through the literature review were consolidated and shortlisted to develop research opportunities and identify barriers and impacts. The consolidation of research questions considered feedback received from the project’s industry reference group, which met periodically throughout the opportunity assessment. This consultative process identified the most impactful research questions to be addressed by the research roadmap and priority projects.

For each work package, researchers reviewed the relevant literature as well as industry reports. Through this process, and in consultation with industry representatives, the initial set of topics was condensed into nine:

1. Governance and regulation

2. Revenue streams

3. Ownership and access

4. Electric vehicles

5. Storage options

6. Advanced technologies and urban renewable energy zones (UREZ)

7. Stakeholder engagement

8. Microgrids in distribution networks

9. Custom design of local networks

The research roadmap was then formed by proposing research concepts with detailed activities, start years and durations under each research opportunity.