Network resilience to climate change
What would it mean for communities particularly prone to natural hazard events to have a reliable renewable energy supply which is unaffected by network outages?
CutlerMerz’ recent report commissioned by Energy Networks Australia (ENA) and Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) analysed the various opportunities associated with distributed energy resources (DER), microgrids, and stand-alone power systems (SAPS) in supporting networks and communities with climate change resilience.
Our technical/economic/regulatory review included:
Assessing whether it is worthwhile to invest in DER, microgrids and SAPS particularly on high impact low probability events like bushfires and storms;
Assessing whether a greater frequency of such events under climate change projections could materially improve the business case for investment in DER, microgrids and SAPS; and
Identifying the level of regulatory and consumer protection settings that may provide barriers or incentives for investment in DER for network resilience.
Through this work we’ve identified the need for changes in regulatory settings, as well as regulator / network practices that are required to ensure resilience measures are appropriately accounted for.
Read more about this and other findings in our report :
