The grid isn’t broken, it’s asleep
When it comes to our energy future, Australians tend to think our electricity grid is ‘broken’. A prevailing view is that it's either ‘too old’, ‘inflexible’ or ‘too expensive to fix’. And somehow, it’s unable to manage the influx of cheap renewable energy being generated on our rooftops.
But that’s not true. See how we helped Endeavour Energy launch its Flexible Exports service, inviting its rooftop solar customers to send their excess energy to the grid, to make and save money.
With more collaborative initiatives like this, all Australians can be winners. It’s about having access to current and near real-time data. And using code instead of more copper, saving billions of dollars for all energy consumers.
The fact is the grid isn’t broken. It’s just asleep. We just aren’t using it properly. It’s the thinking around Australia’s grid that isn’t working.
Our grid was built to last. It’s robust and resilient. It was built for stability and maintaining a balanced, reliable power source. We need that.
What needs to change is how we use it.
Australia’s grid can take on carry at least 50% more energy than it presently handles. It needs a solution like the one we helped Endeavour Energy bring to its customers. What our software does is to enable the millions of energy generators talk to each other. It can turn the poles and wire grid into an energy super highway. One with multiple energy inputs going in different directions.
This is how we can manage today’s cheap, renewable, and prolific energy sources, like rooftop solar, batteries and electric vehicles. They are all widely distributed and variable. That’s why we have to use it differently and flexibly, with cloud and code.
Everyone wins that way. Consumers, the Distribution Network Service Providers, and the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO).
With the right digital energy infrastructure, we can rely on getting the energy we need, when we need it. It will keep the grid stable and safe, save and make money for our solar rooftop owners, as well as the electricity retailers. And even those Aussies yet to access rooftop solar, will win.
Together we can make sure Australia’s clean energy transition continues to lead the world. And importantly we’ll all be able to breathe easier.
