Centralised vs decentralised power systems

Will energy storage be the catalyst to changing from centralised to decentralised power systems?

The Australian Energy Storage Conference seeks to answer this question. The conference will take place in Sydney on 3-4 June 2015 at the Australian Technology Park and will focus on all areas of the energy storage industry. It includes a free trade show of industry suppliers. Presentations from well over 40 speakers will range in topic from affordable battery storage for the evolving grid, to off-grid telecommunications solar plus storage projects, to grid resiliency and microgrid lessons learned in the US from MW-scale flow battery deployments. Also featured will be grid implications of electric vehicle (EV) charging and innovative thermal energy management for buildings. The conference will feature a diverse range of energy storage projects and case studies from across Australia and from overseas.

Mary Hendriks, industry executive of the Australian Energy Storage Alliance, commented that “New energy storage technologies will be of little use unless the policies and standards are in place for benefit of all the stakeholders.”  She added, “Supporting investment and developing sound policies for the implementation of energy storage technologies is essential to build competitive energy supply systems for Australia’s future.”

The conference includes a session on understanding the Australian regulatory market and developing policy and standards for energy storage. Donald McPhail, network strategy and policy engineer, Ergon Energy, will present at the session and will discuss Ergon’s corporate strategy for facilitating the uptake of battery energy storage systems (BESS) on its network, specifically around working with the existing regulations and coordinating connections through standards and policies.

The comprehensive program includes experts from ABB Australia, Aquion Energy, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Enphase, Ergon Energy, Lend Lease, Tritium and other key industry companies, who will be speaking on the latest technology specific to their speciality. Speakers with extensive industry knowledge and unique perspectives will participate in this two-day event in Sydney. Complementing the conference will be the free-to-attend Australian Energy Storage Exhibition, with a focus on energy storage industry at all levels - for utilities, energy businesses, building management and the emerging electric vehicle markets.