Synopsis
For numerous reasons the electricity industry is one of the last industries which has to undergo a major transformation in order to enter the digital economy. An emphasis on keeping electricity prices as low as possible has led to severe under-investment in the grid to cope with issues such as energy efficiency, the integration of renewable energy sources and consumer tools aimed at managing home energy use more efficiently.
This began to change when a new government arrived in 2007 – one that was more sensitive to the issues. New government policies forced the industry to become more focused on those issues and also led to the formation of the industry alliance, Smart Grid Australia. They were instrumental in putting smart grids on the government’s agenda. This led to the Smart Grid/Smart City project, which is covered in a separate report.
However, the enormous success of PV (solar panels) makes in clear that more attention is needed to smart infrastructure and the same will be the case once electric vehicles (smart cars) are becoming more widely available.
Over the last few years it has become clear that there are many elements to this transformation and the term ‘smarter energy’ is more appropriate to describe this. From here the concept will further merge into concepts such as smart buildings, smart cities and indeed smart countries.
This report explains what smart grids are; why they are important; what the applications are; and how the Australian industry, is preparing itself for the changes that these new policies will bring with them.
