IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - September/October 2021 - 45

now following. Spurred by broad political support at the
state level for net-zero targets, state and territory governments
are heavily investing in renewable generation through
reverse auctions and power purchase agreements. They are
making investments in transmission designs flagged by the
system operator as essential to support emerging renewable
energy zones. These zones are discussed in another
article in this issue, " Planning at System Level, Renewable
Energy Zones. "
Reform programs are underway but with significant
work still to be completed. For the NEM and the WEM,
the detailed work of market design, technical qualification,
compliance, and regulatory frameworks has yet to be finalized.
Each will have a significant impact on market participant
behavior and system outcomes, and there is a growing
recognition of the value in allowing flexibility to those
involved in the transition. Australia is likely to continue on
its reform pathway for the coming decade, due to the rapid
pace of change in both supply and demand.
The current reform of ESSs predominantly addresses
challenges arising from the inverter-based replacement of
synchronous generation, with early steps focusing on the
emerging variability and uncertainty of supply. Future
essential services will likely be needed to 1) mitigate
minimum demand (already a pressing security concern for
some regions, 2) provide individual components of system
strength (where fungible), and 3) provide a broader provision
of system restart services to support greater resilience
and islandability in the event of bushfires and extreme
weather events. All future reforms will need to interact
fairly with DERs, recognizing that the advanced grid-forming
technological capabilities of new battery technologies,
such as the Hornsdale Power Reserve, will likely be eventually
translated to the power electronics of smaller inverters
at the household scale. To support customer participation
and fairness, this may be facilitated through a broadly
accepted " DER Bill of Rights " with principles that could
include 1) the allowance of the near-unimpeded self-consumption
of self-generated electricity (even if exports may
be curtailed), 2) the fair imposition of technical requirements
to support grid security, and 3) remuneration for
energy and system services proportional to that received by
large-scale resources.
As the electrification of transportation proceeds at pace
alongside the increased sophistication of demand-side participation,
there will likely be new system service needs
and opportunities for provision from emerging resources,
such as electric cars. This will need to be accompanied
by a redefinition of roles for network service providers.
As the energy transition gathers momentum through the
millennium, Australia finds itself rapidly departing from
the paradigm first enacted in 1899 of default system service
provision from synchronous resources. It is moving
toward new market frameworks that remunerate the
provision of distinct services in real time from technology
september/october 2021
unimaginable 100 years ago. How Australia addresses
this change has the potential to help inform the global
energy transition in the coming century for the urgent
decarbonization journeys all countries across the world are
now navigating.
For Further Reading
A. Blakers et al., " Australia, the global renewable energy
pathfinder, " ANU Energy Inst., Canberra, 2020. [Online].
Available: https://www.anu.edu.au/events/public-forum
-australia-the-global-renewable-energy-pathfinder (accessed
May 1, 2021).
" Renewable integration study stage 1 report. " AEMO,
2020. https://www.aemo.com.au/-/media/files/major-publica
tions/ris/2020/renewable-integration-study-stage-1.pdf
(accessed May 1, 2021).
Renewable Integration Study (RIS). AEMO. https://
aemo.com.au/en/energy-systems/major-publications/renew
able-integration-study-ris (accessed May 1, 2021).
A. Finkel, " Independent review into the future security
of the National Electricity Market - Blueprint for the future,
office of the chief. " Energy.Gov, 2017. https://www.energy
.gov.au/government-priorities/energy-markets/independent
-review-future-secur ity-nat ional-electr icity-market
(accessed May 1, 2021).
" The Australian Energy Security Board Post 2025 Market
Electricity Design Project. " Energy Security Board.
https://esb-post2025-market-design.aemc.gov.au/ (accessed
May 1, 2021).
" Integrated system plan, " AEMO, 2020. https://aemo.com.
au/en/energy-systems/major-publications/integrated-system
-plan-isp/2020-integrated-system-plan-isp (accessed May 1,
2021).
Biographies
Niraj Lal is with the Australian Energy Market Operator,
Melbourne, 3000, Australia, and Australian National University,
Canberra, 2000, Australia.
Toby Price is with the Australian Energy Market Operator,
Melbourne, 6000, Australia.
Leon Kwek is with the Australian Energy Market Operator,
Melbourne, 6000, Australia.
Christopher Wilson is with the Australian Energy Market
Operator, Melbourne, Australia.
Farhad Billimoria is with the Australian Energy Market
Operator, Melbourne, 3000, Australia, and the University of
Oxford, Oxford, OX2 6FA, United Kingdom.
Trent Morrow is with the Australian Energy Market Operator,
Melbourne, 4000, Australia.
Matt Garbutt is with the Energy Security Board, Canberra,
2000, Australia.
Dean Sharafi is with the Australian Energy Market Operator,
Melbourne, 6000, Australia.
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https://www.anu.edu.au/events/public-forum-australia-the-global-renewable-energy-pathfinder https://www.anu.edu.au/events/public-forum-australia-the-global-renewable-energy-pathfinder https://www.aemo.com.au/-/media/files/major-publications/ris/2020/renewable-integration-study-stage-1.pdf https://www.aemo.com.au/-/media/files/major-publications/ris/2020/renewable-integration-study-stage-1.pdf https://aemo.com.au/en/energy-systems/major-publications/renewable-integration-study-ris https://aemo.com.au/en/energy-systems/major-publications/renewable-integration-study-ris https://aemo.com.au/en/energy-systems/major-publications/renewable-integration-study-ris https://www.energy.gov.au/government-priorities/energy-markets/independent-review-future-security-national-electr%20icity-market http://www.Energy.Gov https://www.energy.gov.au/government-priorities/energy-markets/independent-review-future-security-national-electr%20icity-market https://www.energy.gov.au/government-priorities/energy-markets/independent-review-future-security-national-electr%20icity-market https://esb-post2025-market-design.aemc.gov.au/ https://aemo.com.au/en/energy-systems/major-publications/integrated-system-plan-isp/2020-integrated-system-plan-isp https://aemo.com.au/en/energy-systems/major-publications/integrated-system-plan-isp/2020-integrated-system-plan-isp https://aemo.com.au/en/energy-systems/major-publications/integrated-system-plan-isp/2020-integrated-system-plan-isp

IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - September/October 2021

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