The Australian Energy Market Operator's (AEMO) Draft 2024 Integrated System Plan (ISP) forecasts DER to reach approximately 120 GW by 2050 across rooftop solar and storage, This means DER will be the largest source of capacity – more than utility scale solar, utility scale wind and dwarfing most other sources of electricity capacity.
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How is electricity stored in Australia?
This means a more reliable and constant supply of energy on and off-grid. Currently storage of electrical energy in Australia consists of a small number of pumped hydroelectric facilities and grid-scale batteries, and a diversity of battery storage systems at small scale, used mainly for backup.
Common examples of DER include rooftop solar PV units, battery storage, thermal energy storage, electric vehicles and chargers, smart meters, and home energy management technologies. Distributed energy resources are changing the way Australia produces and manages electricity.
Distributed energy resources are changing the way Australia produces and manages electricity. Rather than electricity being generated by big, centralised power stations, it is now starting to come from many places including millions of homes and businesses.
Australia is widely viewed as a test bed for the impacts and benefits for distributed energy storage due to its rapid energy storage market growth – 356 per cent growth between 2014 and 2015 (China Energy Storage Alliance, 2016).
Why is energy storage important in Australia?
Without effective planning, appropriate investment and also incentives to develop and deploy energy storage technologies, the costs of electricity in Australia will continue to increase and there will be less reliable (adequate and secure) electricity supply.
What is distributed energy resources (DER)?
Distributed energy resources (DER) is the name given to renewable energy units or systems that are commonly located at houses or businesses to provide them with power. Another name for DER is “behind the meter” because the electricity is generated or managed 'behind' the electricity meter in the home or business.