Distributed renewable energy systems

As distributed energy resources (DERs) including solar PV, batteries and demand-response are installed at increasingly high numbers, their successful integration into electricity industries will be critical to managing costs and reliability, and to the integration of variable renewable energy into the grid.   

SPREE works with UNSW’s interdisciplinary Collaboration on Energy and Environmental Markets (CEEM) to study emerging markets, regulatory approaches and business models for DER integration, which will be critical determinants of technical and economic outcomes.  

This work includes forecasting of the energy consumption of appliances and PV-generation; rooftop solar-potential modelling; data-driven analysis of performance, reliability, grid impacts and value of DERs on networks and power systems over a range of timeframes; assessment of the potential and value of DERs for integration of variable renewable energy; the development of open-source tools including tariff design, corporate renewable energy purchasing and distributed energy sharing and aggregation models; and policy and regulatory assessments.