Electrical Connection Autumn 2016

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Changing times ahead, part two
In the last issue of Electrical
Connection, Glenn Platt –
who is one of the keynote
speakers at our conference
in South Africa in April 2016,
talked about how our world is
changing. This is part two of
his article.
Today, solar isn’t just cheaper for the end
consumer than conventional grid electricity,
solar systems are also being used to maintain
the reliability of the broader electricity grid.
Imagine what this will do to the uptake of this
technology across Australia.
Even if our Edison could get his head around
the localised generation, storage and reactive
power control on the power system of the
immediate future, things won't stay this way for
long.
Already in Australia trials are under way
of microgrids and 'transactional' systems,
in which local houses and other buildings
essentially trade energy. This provides
complete independence from the grid and
often improves power quality and reliability.
In doing so, these systems demonstrate that
we don’t really need base-load power. What’s
needed is generation carefully matched to
supply at any instant.
To achieve this, microgrids are managed
by automated controllers that can accurately
predict future load and generation, then actively
manage loads and energy storage to keep
things in balance with the available generation.
They do this while maintaining power quality to
the end user.
Driven by economics, with the bonus of
practical benefits, the uptake of distributed
solar and battery storage in Australia is akin
to the disruption that digital photography
caused to film, or the mobile phone caused to
telephony.
Although the approaching changes will
be widespread and profound, they aren't
anything to be afraid of. On the contrary, they
represent a great opportunity for electrical and
communications contractors.
The new technologies – solar, batteries,
energy management systems, and so
on – operate on the core electrical and
communications principles we are used to.
There are additional skills to learn, but it's not
an entire change in direction.
These are labour-intensive sectors that can
help the economy. The solar industry in the
United States employs more people than the
coal industry. It even employs more people
than Apple, Google, Twitter and Facebook
combined.
Large investment banks such as Morgan
Stanley and UBS (not exactly crazy greenies
or renewable energy zealots) are publishing
papers on how they expect solar and batteries
to be a huge industry over the next few years.
For example, Morgan Stanley predicts that
about 2.4 million Australian homes will install
solar and battery systems, with a payback
time to the household of less than 10 years.
Ultimately, this means more work, more
challenges, and more opportunities for our
industry.
Somehow I think Edison would have been
a bit disappointed if he had come back and
recognised so much of our electricity system
so many years on from his initial inventions.
However, if he knew about the huge changes
just around the corner, I think he'd be excited
for us all.
Edison once said: "Everything comes to him
who hustles while he waits ..."
Exciting times are ahead – hustle on, I say.
Glenn Platt heads up CSIRO’s Energy flagship
and will be the keynote speaker at the NECA
conference in South Africa, next April.
To read this article in full, please
go to "News & views" on the NECA
website