- The DER Marketplace solution will be developed in partnership with local market participants AusNet Services and Mondo, and technology providers Energy Web, PXiSE, and Microsoft
- EDGE will focus specifically on understanding consumers’ perspectives and preferences in selling their DER capacity to aggregators for use in energy markets
The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), Australia’s power system and market operator, has announced the architecture and technology partners for Project EDGE. It is a flagship initiative enabling distributed energy resources (DER) to provide both wholesale and local network services at enterprise scale within an off-market trial environment. The DER Marketplace solution will be developed in partnership with local market participants AusNet Services and Mondo, and technology providers Energy Web, PXiSE, and Microsoft.
It said, “Combined with the rapid growth of energy storage, demand-side management, and utility-scale renewable generation, the Australian grid is transforming into a decentralized system in which consumer-owned DERs play a pivotal role. This has created challenges for AEMO and distribution network operators in balancing and protecting the grid, but also creates new opportunities for consumers and other market participants to create value by supporting the energy transition with their DERs.”
Under project EDGE, AEMO is collaborating with Mondo and AusNet Services, with input from the broader energy industry, to demonstrate via a proof-of-concept trial how aggregated fleets of DER can deliver multiple energy services at scale at both wholesale power system and local network levels.
It said that this project will provide AEMO and its partners with technical and operational experience to inform evidence-based changes to regulatory and operational processes to effectively manage Australian electricity grids and markets with increasing levels of DER participation. EDGE will focus specifically on understanding consumers’ perspectives and preferences in selling their DER capacity to aggregators for use in energy markets.
The EDGE Project is being supported by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), with AEMO receiving almost $13 million in funding for the project. ARENA CEO Darren Miller said at the time that this landmark trial would provide the blueprint for integrating DER into the grid.
