Tuesday night’s second federal budget from Treasurer Jim Chalmers was highly anticipated by Australia’s energy industry, particularly in light of the recent Accenture-led Sunshot in 2023 Report which made three key recommendations: Commit to $10 million in the 2023/24 Budget for the Net Zero Economy Taskforce to develop a National Renewable Exports Taskforce; Develop a coordinated National Renewable Infrastructure Plan to urgently accelerate the development of new renewable energy in Australia; and Establish and fund and independent national-level Energy Transition Authority. But did the budget, from a government swept to power on a wave generated by voters fed-up with decades of climate policy inaction, finally deliver for utilities? We asked Stephanie Bashir, CEO of Nexa Advisory and ZEN Energy CEO, Anthony Garnaut for their thoughts.   The Federal Budget is a huge step in the right direction for the clean energy transition, on paper. There is billions for electrification, energy saving upgrades, and broader decarbonisation efforts. Whether or not it actually helps Australia meet its targets, mitigate climate risks, and seize opportunities, remains to be seen. A key risk is that the ‘a little for everyone’ approach that could lead to dilution of focus, and funds getting eaten up by bureaucracy and inefficiency. We also need to get on with real boots on the ground implementation. Households, including those in social housing, will be helped to do their bit with $1.3 billion in the Household Energy Upgrades Fund. The Capacity Investment Scheme funding (amounts not disclosed) will unlock $10bn of investment in firming for the clean energy sector, initially for NSW, South Australia and Victoria. A new Hydrogen Headstart program will help connect Australia to, and potentially insert it in, the global hydrogen supply chains. There is still a lot of real work to be done to turn this money into real investment in electrification, and the development of local industries, to ensure that Australia is in the electrification and climate change race, and it doesn’t fritter away its natural competitive advantages.   The Australian government’s commitment to reducing the cost of electricity and supporting the renewable transformation is positive, particularly for vulnerable communities. The recently announced funding for the electrification of homes and businesses engages SME communities and will support the transition. The budget commitment of $2 billion in production incentives for renewable hydrogen will attract private investment and help Australia become a renewable energy superpower. In terms of climate commitments, the budget allocated four years of funding to both the newly established Net Zero Authority and the Renewable Energy Guarantee of Origin scheme. These institutions have the potential to fill a substantial gap in coordinating the energy transition. The budget also focuses on Australia’s decimated tertiary sector, aiming to address the skills shortage by providing 300,000 new TAFE and vocational places and 4,000 new STEM places. These initiatives will bring new capabilities to the industry and help address the need for skilled and qualified trades and STEM-educated individuals. Overall, these budget measures signal a positive step towards a more sustainable future for Australia.​​​​​​​​​​

Enlit Australia Focus Edition 2 in partnership with:         Enlit Australia will return to Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre from 6 – 7 March 2024.   Sponsor and Exhibitor enquiries please contact Lewis Chase, Sales Manager at lewis.chase@talk2.media.

Melbourne, 31 January 2023 – On 22-23 March 2023, the flagship Enlit Australia event is back for another year with their upcoming Leadership Summit hosted at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre.

Arguably one of the best cities to visit in Australia, Melbourne is the perfect location for Enlit Australia due to its proximity to ASEAN, neighbouring countries, and being a major travel hub for Australians.

The conference will bring together the best thought leaders, innovators, and disruptors in the energy sector, such as Tim Jordan, the Commissioner for the Australian Energy Market Commission; Sarah McNamara, the Chief Executive for the Australian Energy Council; Dr. Nick Aberle, the Policy Director for Energy Generation & Storage for the Clean Energy Council and many more.

Not your usual conference, the Enlit Australia event will transcend the standard format of other energy platforms to take on the hard truths head-on and to have honest conversations about Australia’s energy future, challenges, and opportunities.

Most importantly, the conference organisers and speakers are committed to tackling the most pressing and contentious issues in the Australian energy sector today, from the role of the customer to transitioning the grid to a more sustainable, reliable one and the respective roles of hydrogen and electrification.

With former ABC Melbourne presenter Jon Faine hosting both morning panels, timely and unique content, and an exciting line-up of speakers from all levels of the sector, the event is sure to produce lively debates, allow for in-person meetings or organically connect with energy peers and will uncover and inform the audience regarding the most up-to-date information and challenges to Australia’s energy transition in 2023.

To register for your Summit Delegate pass or free Expo Visitor pass, please visit Enlit Australia here.

Media Contact:

Elyse Gatt | Senior Associate | MICHELSON ALEXANDER
M 61 433 586 152
E: Elyse@michelsonalexander.com.au

Smart Energy Water (SEW), with its innovative and industry-leading cloud platforms, delivers the best Digital Customer Experiences (CX) and Workforce Experiences (WX), powered by AI, ML, and IoT Analytics to the global energy, water, and gas providers. At SEW, the vision is to Engage, Empower, and Educate billions of people to save energy and water. We partner with businesses to deliver platforms that are easy-to-use, integrate seamlessly, and help build a strong technology foundation that allows them to become future-ready.

Ahead of their participation at Enlit Australia 2022 as Platinum Sponsor, we sat down with George Hunt, Chief Strategy Officer at Smart Energy Water to find out more about their mission to engage, empower and educate billions of people, and build a sustainable tomorrow.

Tell us about Smart Energy Water. How is it changing the energy industry landscape?

The energy sector is experiencing increased customer expectations and rapid technology transformation. This is leading to a focus on delivering superior customer experience and employee experience for their workforce, and also opportunities relating to the vast array of data they have from increased use of smart meters, smart assets and IoT devices. There is a great need to find effective ways of mining the data and delivering insights and impacts that make a difference to customers. All of this is further amplified with the need to protect the environment, achieve decarbonization, and deliver sustainability targets.

Smart Energy Water (SEW) is a company that takes this full mix into account. Our mission is to engage, educate and empower billions of people, and build a sustainable future. We are a global energy and water cloud platform provider serving over 350+ energy and water companies worldwide. Our platforms currently connect over 700 million people across the globe to their energy and water providers, and we have the ambition to connect 3 billion people by 2024.

Our industry-leading platforms deliver easy-to-use solutions, leverage emerging technologies such as AI, ML, and IoT Analytics, and build future-ready businesses. We have been called the ‘Uber’ and ‘Amazon’ of the energy and utility industry due to our digital customer experience (CX) innovations and our integrated workforce (WX) management platform.

Our CX platform engages and empowers customers worldwide with digital self-service, personalized, multi-channel communication and seamless customer journeys. Our field service management platform delivers end-to-end mobile workforce experience (WX). This helps create connected CX-WX experiences and also allows us to bring 5-star customer delight.

Our continued focus on CX and WX extends to empower the smart home, eMobility, smart city and the rise of ‘Resource Savvy Citizens’ who are playing their part as communities engaging in the future. With our digital solutions, service providers can connect neighbourhood infrastructure to improve operational excellence, enhance revenue potential, and promote sustainable lifestyles.

How is Customer Experience evolving in the industry?

For many years, energy providers have focused on building asset and service resilience for their operations. Now, while service resiliency is still vitally important, it is also about experiences. Consumers, like us, are expecting the same experiences from our energy and water providers that we get from our retailers or banks. The specifics for energy customers are slightly different though. Today’s technology literate customers demand more from their energy providers than monthly energy bills. They are more aware of their needs and expect more services personalized to their requirements such as tariff insights, information on smart meter installation etc. They require their energy providers to equip them with programs and initiatives to enable energy conservation. They also require more control, convenience and choice over their energy services. Energy providers need to offer omnichannel interactions and consistent experience across multiple touchpoints to meet customer expectations and also address the needs of the most vulnerable customers, those that require personalized and dedicated services.

Matured and proven technological interventions like SEW’s digital platforms can help the energy providers and retailers here. It’s all about changing the paradigm of customer engagement and establishing customer-centricity at the heart of all service operations.

We are moving away from the transactional interactions on bill payments to the next level of engagement where it is less about the customer and more about the citizen. Energy companies are recognizing the need to engage these citizens who live in the environment, belong to a community, and think about the world their children will live in. It is essential to create meaningful citizen engagement and empower them to help achieve net-zero ambitions. From providing personalized energy-saving rebates and programs to introducing services such as smart homes, EVs, renewable energy sources – energy retailers that can quickly pivot to new innovations, provide integrated offerings and engage, educate and empower the citizens, are more likely to successfully spearhead the next wave of the industrial revolution brought about by energy transition.

What can energy providers do today to ensure they deliver superior CX & services?

I believe energy providers today are making huge strides in putting customers at the heart, this is causing them to scrutinize their processes to align with what their customers really need. As these evolve further, they are embracing citizen-centricity and making data-driven decisions based on consumer insights holds the key to becoming a future-forward business.

Service providers should continue to consider all the consumers – across diverse personas, income brackets, age-groups, vulnerabilities etc. while catering the services to each individual need. Industry pioneers across the globe, and even in Australia, have taken the reins and shown the energy sector the importance of incorporating digital and mobile technology into their customer services and empowering citizens with self-service.

Energy providers are also challenged to weave in sustainability into their offerings, services, and communications, making energy efficiency easier for citizens. As COP26 rightly highlighted, we have aggressive targets to mitigate climate change, and we will only achieve them if we collaborate with citizens and empower them for active participation.

The traditional, siloed approaches adopted by the energy sector is shifting fast, and many are breaking those glass ceilings and broadening their ecosystem of partners – be it cities and municipalities, regulators, technology providers, charging station providers, or even other energy providers. To reach the pinnacle of customer experience excellence, the industry will need to fully embrace disruption, new entrants, and competition to drive further innovation.

What is the importance of customer service through workforce management solutions?

Many of us realize that if we look after our employees who are essential to provide the critical services and if we look after our frontline workers who deliver the services, then, in turn, we can enhance citizen satisfaction and citizen experience.

The evolution in the technology stack and changes in the field workflows have redefined the definition of fieldwork. Strategies around ‘Real-time’, ‘Automation’, ‘Collaboration’, ‘Predictive Insights’, ‘Powerful Analytics’, ‘Empowered Worker’, are all coming together to build an intelligent workforce. Bringing in innovations for the field technicians to build superior workforce experience (WX) is as important as adopting CX practices. With the help of digital platforms and innovative technologies, energy providers can create connected customer and workforce experiences to allow streamlined processes and service delivery excellence.

SEW’s digital workforce experience platform helps by providing intelligence to aid the management of field operations to make the service experiences effortless for the end customers. It caters to multiple use cases for operational efficiency and workforce productivity, such as auto-scheduling and dispatching the field crew in real-time through AI/ML analytics. Another innovation is live location tracking, connecting field workers to customers to ensure faster response to service requests. The platform also enables efficient management of assets and inventory throughout the lifecycle, from tracking to predictive maintenance, for optimized resource utilization and improved service levels. All these features are about providing the right tools to the workforce to deliver customer delight, and keeping them safe in all they do.

What will you be bringing to Enlit?

We are excited to be the Platinum Sponsors for Enlit Australia, connect with various industry players and leaders, and shape the world’s energy future. In the event, our company experts will delve into the latest innovations in customer experience and workforce experience in the energy sector. We will share invaluable strategies and best practices on orchestrating intelligent technologies to deliver CX excellence, provide superior field service management and build connected customer and workforce experience. We would also be discussing insights on empowering citizens towards energy efficiency and leveraging data analytics and AI to solve the biggest challenges around decarbonization for a sustainable future.

We will explore lessons from leading energy retailer Simply Energy on establishing meaningful customer relationships through an integrated digital platform. We will investigate how, Simply Energy are helping their customers manage their utility account, monitor consumption, make payments – all while becoming more energy efficient.

We will also explore the success story of a technology pioneer – intelliHUB on delivering CX excellence for commercial and industrial (C&I) customers. From intelligent insights to supporting smart city, intelliHUB will uncover secrets to driving positive change for the energy sector.

Want to hear more from SEW? Join us at Enlit Australia 2022 and connect with the SEW team at Stand B12. 

Image source: Pixabay

Wipro is a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company. They harness the power of cognitive computing, hyper-automation, robotics, cloud, analytics and emerging technologies to help their clients adapt to the digital world and make them successful.

Ahead of their participation at Enlit Australia 2022 as Silver Sponsor, we sat down with Clive Ewin, GM & Head, Wipro A/NZ to find out more about their platform and the impact they are having in the energy transformation space.

1. What makes Wipro different in the market?

Wipro’s key differentiator is the depth and breadth of our domain knowledge in Utilities. We genuinely operate end to end with a focus on practical business solutions. This is a result of our size and experience in the market local and globally, but also reflects our engineering heritage. We also happen to be both a transformation partner for our clients and the provider of managed services. These two areas are naturally merging as clients seek flexible, highly responsive IT environments.

2. What are you bringing to ENLT Australia 2022 and Why?

Disruption in Utilities is constant and complex. We want to bring solutions to some of these challenges to ENLIT to discuss with our clients and other attendees. In particular we will be focusing on grid modernisation, a cognitive intelligence platform for Network Management and CDR. The first two address key operational issues in a DER environment, and CDR has significant revenue potential at a time when core revenue’s are falling.

3. A Cognitive Intelligence Platform for Network Management sounds interesting in a DER environment. Why a Platform rather than data mining?

A number of our clients want to operationalize energy aggregation and home energy management use cases. An “Energy Platform” that integrates Behind-the-Meter assets and aggregates individuals DERs  provides opportunities to offer new services in a federated marketplace. As a pre-built solution with created use cases, it delivers value immediately and can be built out over time. We see this as preferable to starting from scratch.

4. Why do you see Grid Modernisation as important at this point?

The overall value chain has changed significantly for Electricity T&D organisations with the penetration of distributed sources of energy at the various levels of the network. Whilst it has created opportunities for both consumers and third party aggregators to participate in grid operations, it has raised significant challenges for grid operators to maintain a sustained business model with grid stability, security and resilience. Modernisation is the key means of addressing this.

5. CDR offers a useful source of revenue. What do you see as the potential risks for Utilities?

Consumer Data Rights (CDR) for energy will enable consumers to authorise third parties to access their energy data. CDR provides opportunities for Utilities to create new customer experience touch points, new services and new revenue streams It also, however, creates an obligation for Utilities to comply with the regulatory changes. At ENLIT we will focus the opportunities that CDR presents for Utilities and what Utilities can do in preparation for CDR compliance

6. What advice would you give to attendees on maximising the value they get from ENLIT

I think seeking out discussion on the new is the key value that conferences like ENLIT provide. I thinks it’s important to strike the right balance between talking to industry specialists and peer organisations. Learning from the lessons of others means that you don’t have to learn them directly!

7. And finally, what are you looking to get out of ENLIT Australia 2022

It’s been two years since I’ve been to a face to face conference. I’m looking forward to catching up with old colleague and clients and perhaps meeting some new ones.

Want to hear more from Wipro? Join us at Enlit Australia 2022 and connect with the Wipro team at Stand A24. 

Image source: Pixabay

Opinion piece by Gordon Wymer, Chief Commercial Officer at Snowy Hydro published on 14th February 2022.

The root cause of the Global Financial Crisis was not, as “The Big Short” would have you believe, endemic corruption and fraud. The basic, primary, fundamental cause of the GFC was that correlated distribution tails that were considered to have zero probability of occurrence, all occurred, simultaneously. It turned out that the probability that Fred couldn’t repay his mortgage was actually highly correlated to the probability that Madge couldn’t repay hers either.

And the scenario in which one collateralised debt obligation (or CDO, just a bundle of lots of mortgages) defaults, and causes the simultaneous default of lots of other CDOs and CDO derivatives was not considered, most famously by the credit rating agencies who ascribed AAA ratings to a pile of financing instruments that turned out to be junk.

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO)’s target for annual unserved load is 0.002%. Simplistically, that means you should expect a blackout for around 11 minutes a year. I reckon that’s AAA. I’m OK with that, because my milk won’t go off in 11 minutes and hospitals’ emergency generators won’t run out of diesel or gas.

But there is a GFC-type problem with this beautiful world. AEMO is tasked with writing the “Integrated System Plan”, or ISP, which plots the National Electricity Market (NEM)’s forecast generation, transmission and storage out to 2050, from the system administrator’s perspective. In writing the draft 2022 ISP, AEMO have set themselves a task of such fiendish difficulty (in modelling the NEM in granular detail, from the bottom up, for 30-odd years) that they have to make assumptions about many things that may look secondary but actually matter a lot. So their targets for electricity storage and transmission builds are based on averages rather than on testing whether a given scenario holds up to perceived low-probability outcomes.

For example, the draft 2022 ISP ranks future Renewable Energy Zones on the basis of average capacity factors, and on the basis of the correlation of native supply with native load (which is close to irrelevant) rather than on the correlation of supply between future Renewable Energy Zones. The modelling therefore assumes that output from Fred’s wind farm in Victoria and output from Madge’s wind farm in Tasmania are not correlated (or in AEMO’s words, Tasmanian wind will “provide greater resource diversity to mainland wind farms”).

For NEM reliability, these inputs are critical. The correlation between Victorian and Tasmanian wind is actually 0.55, using AEMO’s latest public data set. This is a high correlation factor. So this (and other similar) assumptions are incorrect, which leads to projections for future storage demand that are based on a key error. Compounding this issue, AEMO continues to employ a regulatory test for new transmission investment (the infamous “RIT-T”) that many industry participants, including Snowy Hydro, believe is terminally flawed. This leads to conclusions on transmission investment that are, practically, highly problematic.

The other GFC-type problem is that sections of the media are trying to tell us that a 100% renewable NEM will work just fine, with just a few batteries and a bit of “redundant” renewable capacity. They point to South Australia as a beacon for a new world. Nick O’Malley writes, in the Sydney Morning Herald, 16 January 2022, South Australia breaks record by running for a week on renewable energy.

Except that it did no such thing. Factually, this headline is untrue.

It is true that “the state produced on average 101 per cent of the energy it needed from wind, rooftop solar, and solar farms”. That’s because all that wind and solar wildly over-generated when it was “on”, to the point it had to be exported to Victoria or significantly “curtailed”, which is a polite way of saying that the solar and wind generators were told to turn their generation down, or off. But, for 45% of the time, supply had to be bolstered by imports from Victoria, and by local gas and diesel generation (by the way, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that).

In the NEM, the probability that the wind does not blow, and the probability that the sun does not shine, are correlated. Worse, these probabilities are also correlated with times of peak demand. What does this mean for a 50% (or more) renewable NEM? It means we need electricity storage. Lots and lots and lots of storage. Shallow storage, deep storage. And transmission. Lots of transmission. The more, the better; the sooner, the better. And optimal utilisation of the assets that will be there in 2030.

Like Snowy 2.0. Did you know, dear Victorians, that AEMO’s draft 2022 ISP prefers a new transmission link to Tasmania over the “VNI West” link that connects Snowy 2.0 to Victoria (and completes a very useful loop through NSW, Victoria and South Australia)? Snowy would love to buy more wind and solar electricity from Victorian developers. We already buy more than 1,100MW from Victoria, NSW and South Australia. But if VNI West is deferred until 2031/32, grid-scale wind and solar development in Victoria will stop, because the current transmission lines are full.

In the blackouts of 2019, Snowy had over 1,500MW of spare capacity at Tumut 3 in NSW, ready to save the day for Victoria. But the transmission lines were full. No more power could get through. Hello darkness, my old friend.

If the system planners don’t look at the probabilities of low, and correlated, wind and solar output, and at wind and solar droughts, and correlation of troughs in supply and peaks in demand, if they don’t start focusing on what happens when the correlated distribution tails that were considered to have zero probability of occurrence, all occur, simultaneously…

I’ve heard that before somewhere.

I look forward to going through these issues in detail at the conference.

Want to hear more? Join us in Melbourne on 16th – 17th March for Enlit Australia 2022 to hear Gordon deliver his presentation The NEM: It’s just not that into you.

Image Source: Unsplash, photo by Kshithij Chandrashekar.

Australian global mining giant Rio Tinto has partnered with Sumitomo, a Japanese energy company, to explore hydrogen production and use at its Yarwun alumina refinery in Gladstone, Australia.

Sumitomo has been conducting a study on hydrogen production in Gladstone and, with the letter of intent signed with Rio Tinto, will apply its findings to conduct a pilot at the refinery.

The pilot will be implemented as part of the Gladstone Hydrogen Ecosystem, an initiative established by Sumitomo in partnership with academia, government agencies, and utilities to develop Gladstone as a hub for hydrogen production for the global market by 2030.

Parties Sumitomo collaborated with include Gladstone Ports Corporation, Gladstone Regional Council, Australian Gas Networks and CQUniversity Australia.

The announcement follows bp releasing a study confirming that large-scale production of green hydrogen and ammonia is technically feasible in Australia.

Commenting on the partnership with Sumitomo, Kellie Parker, chief executive at Rio Tinto, said his company is expanding its partnership with the Japanese company “to explore the possibilities of hydrogen, not only for our own refinery but for Sumitomo to supply industry more broadly in Gladstone.

“Reducing the carbon intensity of our alumina production will be key to meeting our 2030 and 2050 climate targets. There is clearly more work to be done, but partnerships and projects like this are an important part of helping us get there.”

The increased adoption of hydrogen in Australia will help strengthen the countries economy through the export of energy and will ensure a secure energy supply to meet local demand, whilst reducing carbon emissions.

Thousands of jobs are expected to be created by expanding Australian hydrogen capabilities. Collaboration with international companies is expected to help accelerate the growth of the market.

Sumitomo is also expanding its portfolio of green projects by deploying hydrogen initiatives to achieve the 2050 carbon neutrality goal.

Sumitomo Corporation’s Energy Innovation Initiative Director, Hajime Mori, added: “Sumitomo has commenced the Design Study and Preliminary Master Planning to build the Gladstone hydrogen ecosystem and we will continue to work towards future hydrogen exports from Gladstone.”

Minister for Water Glenn Butcher, reiterated: “Gladstone’s world-class deep water port, water security through Awoonga Dam, and industry attraction via the local State Development Area have set Gladstone up to become the hydrogen capital of Australia, providing massive employment and supply chain opportunities both locally and in the Central Queensland region.”

Originally published by Power Engineering International.

Enlit Australia will now run 16-17 March 2022, at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre

The evolving Covid-19 pandemic in Melbourne continues to pose challenges to the live events sector. The current on-going border closures, travel bans, government restrictions for large gatherings and the potential health risks will prevent us from delivering a world class event that our partners and attendees have come to associate with the brand.

As a result, Enlit Australia will be postponed from the July 2021 dates to 16-17 March 2022. The venue – Melbourne Convention Exhibition Centre (MCEC) – remains unchanged.

“Over the last several weeks we have consulted and listened to our stakeholders who have expressed concerns surrounding the uncertainty in Melbourne and the potential of snap lockdowns that would impact the delivery of Enlit Australia” said Michael Silber, Event Director for Enlit Australia.

“The rescheduled March dates will ensure the successful and safe delivery of Enlit Australia that will maximise ROI for our partners and continue to provide meaningful experiences for our visitors.

“We look forward to welcoming you all to Melbourne in March 2022 when we officially launch the inclusive guide to the energy transition – Enlit Australia.”

Enlit Australia is part of the global rebrand of the Clarion Energy Series and will be held at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre from 16-17 March 2022. For more information about the Australian event, visit enlit-australia.com. To learn more about global Enlit events, visit enlit.world. To follow Enlit Australia’s journey on social media visit Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.