Putting the Power in People’s hands
Distributed Energy Resources – a key contributor to the clean energy transition
Accelerating the take up of Distributed Energy Resources (DER) in Australia could help Australia meet its renewable energy and emissions reductions targets, by circumventing the bottlenecks being faced in developing and connecting large-scale renewable energy generation and its associated transmission.
Australia is a world leader in both rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) deployment and in its research and development. It is already contributing almost half (3.3GW in 2021 and 2.7 GW in 2022) of the annual 6GW of new renewable generation it is estimated we need to build over the seven years to 2030.
We have the world-beating skills and resources to leverage DER as a complimentary approach to achieving our targets to generate 82 per cent of our electricity from renewable sources by 2030, and to reduce our carbon emissions by 43 per cent, and therefore be net zero, by 2050.
If DER is to help accelerate Australia’s decarbonisation, we need a coordinated national energy strategy. A key part of that strategy would be removing some of the barriers to DER take-up by households and businesses.
Recommendations
Nexa Advisory has made five recommendations for consideration at the energy ministers’ meeting in November, including:
Immediately establish of a national DER body with appropriate funding to:
1- deliver a coordinated national strategy and policy plan to accelerate DER.
2- direct the market bodies, including the operator, on the technical and regulatory approaches to DER.
Prioritise (in parallel to the national DER body) energy programs and reforms in three key areas:
3- Reform ‘export’ management and tariffs with a focus on consumer outcomes and trust.
4- Obligate network service providers to make network data publicly available to enhance innovation and competition and reduce monopoly behaviour.
5- Reform outdated network voltage standards in line with global best practice.
Read the report here Nexa Distributed Energy Resources paper and recommendations 04102023
