The work undertaken by advocates and other organisations through the Grants Program is having influence, improving outcomes for energy consumers. Great Grants showcase important work that has built new evidence or demonstrated impact.
The Total Environment Centre’s The role of DER in the Equitable Decarbonisation of the NEM Project has been selected as one of our Great Grants.
This project was funded to help facilitate, through regulatory reform, the necessary transition to a low carbon energy system in an economically efficient and socially equitable manner.
This grant has supported workstreams and thinking in the areas of demand response, distributed energy resources and energy system resilience. This work has been successful in influencing the public discussion and sector decision making through articles in Renew Economy and submissions to energy networks.
This work was also an important pillar in the establishment of the New Energy Compact, a future focused vision to be used by decision makers to guide policy and reform for an inclusive, affordable, dependable and clean energy system.
All project articles, submission and outputs are available here.
Video interview about system resilience
The below interview conducted with Mark Byrne from the Total Environment Centre focuses on one significant part of this work, energy system resilience. Resilience is measured by an energy system’s ability to rebound from significant shocks or its ability to be flexible in adapting to a new reality.
Extreme weather events such as the 2016 System Black Tornado in South Australia and the 2020 Australian Bushfires have sparked deeper thinking about energy system resilience. Rebuilding critical infrastructure could happen differently, particularly with new opportunities arising from distributed energy resources and microgrids.
Watch the full interview below to hear deeper insights into system resilience and how this might influence energy market decision making and investment in the future.
Resources about energy system resilience
- Best Case Scenario – Total Environment Centre and Renew
- Opportunities for stand-alone power systems to enhance network resilience – CutlerMerz, Total Environment Centre, Energy Network Australia
- Energy Consumers Australia Grants Archive – All delivered work from the Total Environment Centre for this grant including system resilience work
- Foresighting Forum 2020: Mark Byrne Presentation about use of electric vehicles to help solve resilience issues