To the limit … ANU lab open for extreme (or mundane) DER testing

Ecogeneration cover the mission of the DERlab

Dull or extraordinary grid conditions can be conjured to stress test clean energy equipment at the ANU’s laboratory dedicated to distributed energy resources.

After three years in development the Australian National University’s DERlab – a laboratory where distributed energy resources can be stuck together in any combination and bossed about by curious engineers – is open to researchers and technology developers around the country.

“It’s a stepping stone between research and development and the live network,” says ANU battery storage and grid integration program research leader Bjorn Sturmberg.

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Stories from the opening of the DERlab

More renewable technology will be able to be integrated into Australia’s energy grid, thanks to a new state-of-the-art laboratory in Canberra.

The Australian National University’s Distributed Energy Resources Lab, which was opened on Tuesday, will allow for researchers, energy companies and start-ups in the industry to test their technology in real-world settings before they become built in to the broader energy grid.

The laboratory has been a project more than two years in the making, with more than $1.5 million in funding provided by the ACT government.

Full story in The Canberra Times

Our spin on it in The ANU Newsroom below

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Applying responsible algorithm design to neighbourhood-scale batteries in Australia

Our new paper in Nature Energy asks fundamental questions of what values and biases algorithms are encoding into our digital energy system.

Abstract below:
The digital energy era presents at least three systemic concerns to the design and operation of algorithms: bias of considerations towards the easily quantifiable; inhibition of explainability; and undermining of trust and inclusion, as well as energy users’ autonomy and control. Here we examine these tensions through an interdisciplinary study that reveals the diversity of possible algorithms and their accompanying material effects, focused on neighbourhood-scale batteries (NSBs) in Australia. We conducted qualitative research with energy sector professionals and citizens to understand the range of perceived benefits and risks of NSBs and the algorithms that drive their behaviour. Issues raised by stakeholders were integrated into NSB optimization algorithms whose effects on NSB owners and customers were quantified through techno-economic modelling. Our results show the allocation of benefits and risks vary considerably between different algorithm designs. This indicates a need to improve energy algorithm governance, enabling accountability and responsiveness across the design and use of algorithms so that the digitization of energy technology does not lead to adverse public outcomes.

Full text available here https://rdcu.be/cpu0G

DERlab launch

After more than two years of research, design and construction our DERlab is ready for public launch!

The launch on the 13th of July will feature the Chief Minister of the ACT, Andrew Barr, and Vice-Chancellor of the ANU, Brian Schmidt.

More details and registration for the launch here.

Explainer – The animals of the energy transition

Amy’s Balancing Act, is a fable about the power of diversity and the transition to a clean energy system. The story revolves around Amy’s mission to deliver the post across the island of Energia. The analogy of the story is that the delivery of the post is like the delivery of electricity.

Assisting Amy in her mission are four animals, called Clyde, Sol, Gale, and Snowy. Each of these animals represents a specific type of electricity technology. This page unpacks each of these analogies.

Amy and her diverse team of animal helpers
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Check your mirrors: 3 things rooftop solar can teach us about Australia’s electric car rollout

“The electric vehicle transition is about more than just doing away with vehicles powered by fossil fuels. We must also ensure quality technology and infrastructure, anticipate the future and avoid unwanted outcomes, such as entrenching disadvantage.

Australia’s world-leading rollout of rooftop solar power systems offers a guide to help navigate the transition. We’ve identified three key lessons on what’s gone well, and in hindsight, what could have been done differently.”

Full piece in The Conversation https://theconversation.com/check-your-mirrors-3-things-rooftop-solar-can-teach-us-about-australias-electric-car-rollout-162085