MEInetwork24 Seminar #7: Energy communities and microgrids

HYBRID EVENT

The Melbourne Energy Institute invites you to the final seminar in the MEInetwork24 seminar series, presented by Dr Carmen Bas, Renewable Energy Engineer, Customer Assets at Energy Australia.

Power systems are experiencing an unprecedented transformation driven by the massive uptake of distributed and consumer energy resources (CER). This transformation challenges the traditional configuration of power systems, where large generators supplied energy to passive consumers, and gives rise to a decentralised system in which consumers become active energy service providers.

In this context, concepts such as virtual power plants (VPPs), energy communities and microgrids have emerged with promising benefits to consumers around lower costs and self-sufficiency. While many of the opportunities in this space are technically achievable today, consumers realising their value are often limited by market and regulatory settings. This presentation provides an overview of emerging opportunities in the CER space, how regulatory and market adjustments can further support the development of CER, and the potential of community-level CER to achieve low-carbon neighbourhoods.

SPEAKER:

Dr. Carmen Bas

Renewable Energy Engineer, Customer Assets, EnergyAustralia

Carmen Bas is an electrical engineer in Customer Assets at EnergyAustralia. She is currently leading the deployment of different models of community batteries across the NEM, including market participation, asset management, network support and consumer offerings.

Previously, she was a researcher at the University of Melbourne, where she obtained her PhD in Electrical Engineering. During this time, she focused on techno-economic analysis of distributed energy systems, including consumer energy resources (CER). She led various projects in the energy community space, including Power Melbourne, to install a network of community batteries in the City of Melbourne, and the Donald and Tarnagulla Microgrid Feasibility Study in regional Victoria.

MODERATOR:  Dr. Sleiman Mhanna

Senior Research Fellow, Dept of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and IT, ·University of Melbourne

Dr. Sleiman Mhanna received his PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Sydney in 2016 with emphasis on fast distributed methods in power systems and demand response pricing mechanisms. For the subsequent three years he was a research fellow at the same institution, working mainly on the award-winning CONSORT project funded by ARENA, where he developed fast distributed optimisation methods and nonlinear pricing structures for load-side distribution network support.

He is working on designing mathematical models and scalable algorithms for the operation and planning of integrated electricity, gas, and hydrogen systems. The studies he has conducted over the past three years, which include electrification of residential heating demand and modelling of hydrogen blending in gas transmission networks, are currently used by Future Fuels Cooperative Research Centre (FF CRC) and its industry partners in their policy initiatives and decarbonisation roadmaps.