The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) has made a draft rule for the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) to establish a register of distributed energy resources in the national market.
The register would include small-scale battery storage systems and rooftop solar, and would give network businesses and AEMO visibility of where distributed energy resources are connected to help in planning and operating the power system as it transforms.
Small-scale batteries are being installed in homes and businesses across Australia and are expected to accelerate as costs fall. It has been projected that 100,000 batteries could be installed by 2020, and one million by 2030. These resources provide opportunities to manage the power system in new ways, particularly with advanced metering and remote control.
The register will primarily be compiled using data collected by network businesses through existing processes. The draft rule also allows AEMO to incorporate any other relevant data it receives, for instance from the Clean Energy Regulator or state safety regulators where appropriate.
The rule change request follows work by the COAG Energy Council’s Energy Market Transformation Project Team on the benefits of a register of small-scale battery storage systems. It also builds on a Finkel Review recommendation to develop a framework for collecting information on distributed energy resources.
