Post on 16-May-2022
Krystal Skinner – Innovation & Growth Tribe Lead
Working with the customer to create a decentralised energy future
Creating a brighter energy future for all Western AustraliansPowering more than 1 million homes and businesses with over 100 years experience of adapting to our customers’ changing needs.
WA’s local energy experts
And largest electricity generator and retailer of gas and electricity* – all backed by the State Government since 1883.
Voted ‘Australia’s most trusted energy company
Roy Morgan Net Trust Score survey - October 2018
Stronger community partnershipsWith WALGA, WACOSS, AHA, Lifeline and financial counsellors to better support local businesses and families in need.
Dedicated renewable program 30 years in the making
Delivering many Australian firsts along the way including the 1st utility-scale solar farm (Greenough river 2012),
first commercial wind farm (Esperance 1987) and the first community energy storage trial (Alkimos Beach 2015).
Exploring cleaner, smarter ways to make, store, use and trade energy
Joint venture with Cbus and DIF to create ‘Bright Energy Investments’ – building
210MW of large-scale renewable energy projects in the SWIS)
* We own and operate power stations in the electricity grid called the SWIS which extends from Kalbarri in the north, east to Kalgoorlie and south to Albany.
10 years from now…Another busy day – can’t wait!
Today I’m working from home so I’m not going to need my (fancy, driverless) car – but it does need charging.
I’ve plugged it in to charge, Alexa asks me if I want to charge it via my own solar panels or via my local community trading scheme. She recommends that I’ll be better off charging via the community and using the energy generated by my solar roof tiles to power my home and charge my battery.
I can’t believe it’s going to be the third day over 43 degrees – thank goodness for air con, I need to crank it up more.
It’s 3.30pm but the sea breeze still hasn’t kicked in – I’m melting!!
Alexa interrupts my 80s playlist to tell me that she’s adjusted the temperature of my aircon back up to 24 degrees, otherwise my battery will not charge enough to cover tonight’s usage and I’m at risk of going over my off peak cap. Party pooper!
Still melting… “Alexa, turn the air-con back down to 20”. I’m happy to pay the extra ‘$10 for the 50 off peak (electrons) – Synergy takes care of it all automatically anyway (via their energenie).
I’m just going to have to let mum know that I won’t be sharing any credits with her this month, but once it cools down…
Goodnight Alexa
Remember the good old days…
In the past, our relationship with customers was a simple one-way transaction.
Transformation was focused on reducing operational costs or sending customers an electronic copy of their bill.
Customers didn’t have much choice over where, when or how they sourced their energy needs.
Energy demand was easy to manage and steadily increasing.
We generated the power
You used it
We sent you a bill
Costs were recovered.
With a little bit of margin on top
But as energy prices continued to rise
New technologies enabled innovation & choice
Setting a new benchmark for customer expectations
So customers started switching to something betterMore than 1 in 4 homes now generate their own energy during the day (in the SWIS)
And we’re only in the early days of disruption
As the transition to something very different, very fast accelerates.
EY’s recent global study on the utities sector has calculated the 3 critical tipping points that underpin this paradigm shift to a decentralised energy future across Australia:
1. Decarbonisations & decentralisation of energy assets
2. Electrification of transport
3. Digitisation and democratisation of data
2021
Distributed solar and storage energy
reaches price & performance parity
with grid-energy*
2025
EVs reach price
and
performance
parity with petrol
vehicles*
2040Cost of
transporting
electricity exceeds
the cost of
distributed solar
and battery** Source: EY Countdown clock - Oceania
That’s why we’ve had to flip our thinking
By putting the customer at the heart of everything we design, deliver, do.
Because at it’s core, disruption isn’t about technology - it’s about people and businesses choosing a better experience.
Technology just enables their choice.
Driving our imperative to test innovative solutions and explore new ways of working…
Redesigning our employee experienceTo ensure we’re more responsive to changes and disruption and utilising the right capabilities across the business to deliver value for customers.
Yesterday Today Tomorrow
Increasing adaptability
Trialing new technology and innovation within the WA market To test and learn which solutions can deliver viable energy solutions for customers and the state tomorrow.
1 key insight so far…
The community has saved a
total of $31,384 off their
collective energy bills since the
trial started in April 2016.^.
Partners
• Western Power, Landcorp,
Lendlease
Alkimos Energy Storage Trial
Trialling how community scale
batteries combined with energy
efficiency incentives may help
reduce household energy costs.
1 key insight so far…
Since the trial started,
participating households have
saved on average $111.97 per
household.*
Participants + partners
• 53 customers, 2 year trial
• Western Power
Powerbank
Australian-first utility scale
battery trial in established
network – incentivising
customers to maximise their
solar PV investment via a
virtual storage solution.
EV Home Plan
Simple tariff that seeks to
encourage the adoption of EVs
whilst shifting consumption
away from peak periods.
1 key insight so far…
Customers are willing to shift
more of their consumption to off
peak times (11pm – 4am) peak
to off peak - 37% compared to
17% for A1 REBS/FIT
customers.
Participants + partners
• 73 customers, ongoing
1 key insight so far…
Limited ability to deliver more
affordable energy in WA’s
capacity market (higher fixed
costs). May be more suited to
microgrids or more volatile
markets.
Participants + partners• 14 customers, 6 month trial
• Powerledger, Western Power,
EnergyOS, Curtin, City of Freo
RENeW Nexus
Peer to Peer trading trial using
blockchain technology to
support local communities to
leverage data to become more
efficient and sustainable.
1 key insight so far…
Batteries can respond to peak
afternoon demand load faster
and cheaper than traditional
assets (on sunny days.)
Participants + partners
10 participants, 1 year trial
VPP technology trial
Testing the functionality of 6
different VPP providers -
coordinating an aggregated
demand response to a
planned/unplanned event
schedule event
^Savings are approximate and calculated by applying the Peak Demand Saver Plan rates to average historic consumption, usage pattern and generation based on previous 12 months up to 5 July 2018 – compared to charges that would have been incurred at the standard A1 (Home plan) rates.
*Average Estimated savings only calculated by comparing consumption and costs incurred by trial participants on the PowerBank Trial and the A1 Home Plan over the same period (for the period between 07/11/2018 to 30/04/2019).
Co-creating solutions with customers, other utilities and a broader range of community organisations on a regular basisTo find more holistic solutions for the future and to ensure no one is left behind.
To safely transition Western Australians to THEIR new energy future (not ours)No matter where it leads us.
Source: Retail Strategy team
Energy Storage (Existing)
• Battery storage for maximising self
consumption, back-up power and peak load
reduction
• It gives flexibility to distributed generation and
potentially enables off-grid solutions
Solar panels (Existing)
• As the cost of solar PV continues to
decrease, and efficiencies continue to
increase, more and more residential
customers will take advantage of
surplus roof space
Smart meters
• The wide-scale roll out of AMI
metering technology will provide
retailers with more data about their
customers energy needs
• New products will be designed that
better reflect how their customers use
energy
Smart home
• The home of the future where
appliances and the grid are
connected to automate decision
making and improve customer quality
of life
Virtual Power Plant
• As the uptake of battery storage
increases, centralised management of
multiple household systems enables
VPPs to act as one single dispatchable
generator
• During the peak hours when power is
most expensive, participants can be
incentivised to feed excess generation or
storage back in to the grid
Embedded networks
• Smart sub-metering & billing solutions enables
new products and services to be offered to
customers in traditional sub-metered set–ups
(apartments, retirement villages, etc)
• It also enables innovative community precinct
energy models for new developments where
shared solar and storage become a reality
Smart energy services
• Real-time alerts and price signals to
customers will help reduce
inefficiencies
• Demand response enabled
appliances shed load from the grid
and may help consumers save money
during peak demand with the right
tariff incentives
Power purchase agreements
• PPAs allow customers to purchase their energy
from non-traditional sources such as 3rd party
owned solar PV and battery storage systems
• PPAs can also be used to allow customer to
trade energy amongst themselves on a large
scale or to donate excess power
Electric Vehicles
• Customer will look to leverage
investment in larger solar PV and
battery systems through EVs
• In the future, the car batteries can be
charged off-site from renewable
sources and serve as additional
backup storage for the home and the
grid
Microgrids
• Where customers do not have direct access to
roof space, precinct energy solutions
(embedded microgrids) i.e. embedded networks
coupled with larger scale solar PVs and
community battery storage will offer customers
more choice in when it comes to purchasing
energy in the future
Remember Kodak?
Because tomorrow can’t wait
Krystal.skinner@synergy.net.au
Thank you