Monash to explore energy storage market design

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced $495,000 in funding for a university study of the integration of storage into energy markets with an aim to design efficient incentives for storage operators to enable clearer investment signals for storage.

The funding to the Grid Innovation Hub at the Monash Energy Institute at Monash University will fund a desktop study to explore alternative market designs that could better support energy storage technologies.

This includes assessing how day-ahead markets combined with balancing markets, similar to parts of the US and European markets, could be more suitable for a market transitioning towards more bulk storage.

The study – to cost a total of $1.18 million – will inform policy makers and market participants, rather than to formulate prescriptive policy recommendations.

Energy storage technologies are critical to supporting uptake of variable renewable energy, with more storage required to continue Australia’s transition to renewables.

According to ARENA, market rules for storage technologies currently don’t help to promote efficient allocation of energy storage resources. I

ARENA CEO Darren Miller said: “Further investment in storage solutions such as pumped hydro, large and small-scale batteries is vital to continue Australia’s uptake of variable renewable energy into the grid.

“As traditional generation retires, we need storage to play a bigger role in firming up and balancing our electricity system.”

Picture: Monash University Energy Institute’s Grid Innovation Hub

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