AEMO is undertaking technical research with Australia market participants, in order to gauge a better understanding of renewable electricity generation in the National Electricity Market (NEM).
Over the last decade, the amount of renewable electricity generation connected to the electricity system has been increasing rapidly, driving an evolving energy supply mix and changing the operating characteristics of the system.
This transformation is forecast to continue, with AEMO’s 2018 Integrated System Plan (ISP) projecting that wind and solar generation could nearly double from 15GW in 2018-19 to more than 30GW by 2025-26.
The findings from AEMO’s Renewable Integration Study will improve the ISP’s ability to unlock the value of existing and new resources in the system, at the lowest cost, while also delivering energy reliably and security to consumers.
This study will specifically provide deep technical insights on:
- How to best manage solar and wind generation variability
- How to maintain system security while shifting to decentralised generation sources
- What is required to replace services currently provided by synchronous generation
In undertaking the study, AEMO will utilise insights from its Future Power System Security Program, Integrated System Plan and the Distributed Energy Resource (DER) program, along with Transmission Annual Planning Reports and international studies. AEMO will deliver the first phase of this work, which is mainly focused on identifying key technical issues and potential solutions, in early 2020.
The nine-month study will support AEMO’s ISP in providing a road map of recommendations to maintain a secure, reliable and affordable energy supply, to all Australian customers, now and into the future.
Following the release of the first phase, AEMO plans to build on this work in future to provide more detailed technical solutions to maintain the security of Australia’s energy system.
