A vision for powering our electricity grid with energy storage

Crawford School of Public Policy | Centre for Climate Economics and Policy

Event details

Seminar

Date & time

Wednesday 08 August 2018
12.30pm–1.30pm

Venue

Barton Theatre, JG Crawford Building, ANU

Speaker

Lachlan Blackhall

Contacts

Oscar Metcalfe

Energy storage is at the early stages of contributing significant changes to the structure and operation of the electricity system both in Australia and around the world. These changes are being driven by the diversity of energy storage technologies and its breadth of capabilities.

To take advantage of the deployment of energy storage into the grid we need to appreciate that energy storage encompasses a wide variety of storage mechanism from big batteries and residential battery storage, through to pumped hydro, batteries on wheels (i.e. electric vehicles) and the broad swathe of other chemical and energy storage mechanisms that are being researched, developed and commercialised.

We also need to understand the role that these many storage technologies have in solving problems and delivering value to energy markets, electricity network operators and utilities, electricity retailers and both residential and industrial energy consumers.

The energy storage solutions we develop will then have to be deployed against a backdrop of energy policy uncertainty, changing regulation, whilst addressing the energy trilemma.

In short, there is a lot of work to be done. This talk will provide a blueprint for the technical, social, economic, and policy research and development activities that are needed to ensure we can power our electricity grids with energy storage and deliver positive outcomes for both the electricity system and for the community as a whole.

Dr Lachlan Blackhall is Entrepreneurial Fellow and Head of the Battery Storage and Grid Integration Program at the ANU Research School of Engineering. He holds a BE, BSc and a PhD in engineering and applied mathematics and was the co-founder and former Chief Technical Officer of Reposit Power. At Reposit, he pioneered the development of distributed control systems to monitor, optimise and control grid-connected energy storage, as well as the development of virtual power plant technology to aggregate distributed energy storage to deliver services and capabilities to energy networks, markets and utilities. Dr Blackhall has been heavily involved in the entrepreneurship, innovation, technology and investment domains for almost two decades. This involvement has included starting a number of companies, being involved in the mentoring and development of entrepreneurs and their ideas, and working to advise or invest in a number of companies.

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