Energy Minister Bill Johnston today released a progress report showing implementation of the DER Roadmap, produced by the McGowan Government’s Energy Transformation Taskforce, is on track.
DER, the small-scale devices including rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, batteries and electric vehicles, have been taken up by households and businesses at unprecedented rates. Western Australians added a record amount of new small-scale solar PV in 2020 - more than 300 megawatts (MW), which is nearly the equivalent of the State’s largest coal-fired generator, the 340MW Collie power station.
The uptake of these distributed technologies are transforming our electricity system, presenting challenges and opportunities for how we produce, manage and consume energy. As more and more households install DER, the challenges of managing the network and power system grow.
Released in April 2020, the DER Roadmap outlined critical actions to be taken over five years to meet the challenges presented by DER and realise a future with cleaner, more affordable energy.
After 12 months of progress, the implementation of the Roadmap actions is on track, achieving several highlights including:
- installation of 10 PowerBanks, making community battery storage available to more customers;
- commencement of a tariff pilot that rewards greater consumption of solar energy; and
- progress of Project Symphony, a trial to test the coordination of many solar panels and batteries to act as a virtual power plant.
Work to implement the rest of the Roadmap continues, with the support of project partners Energy Policy WA, Western Power, Synergy, Horizon Power and the Australian Energy Market Operator.
