The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) to formalise their collaboration and promote innovation in Australia’s energy markets.
In a joint statement the agencies said the MoU set out a framework for coordination and information sharing to underpin projects such as the Distributed Energy Integration Program.
They said that program was aimed at maximising the value of customer investments in distributed resources such as solar PV and battery storage.
“More broadly the AEMC is contributing to ARENA’s work to promote renewable energy technologies by providing input into proof-of-concept trials,” AEMC said.
“This will help us understand potential changes to rules and regulations that will be needed to accommodate a future with more renewables and demand response.”
It said that at the same time ARENA was sharing its expert insights with AEMC as renewable energy technologies evolved and new business models were developed.
“Information gained through ARENA’s proof-of-concept trials helps the AEMC’s consideration of potential changes to the regulatory framework and market development advice,” AEMC said.
“ARENA’s recent demand-response trials with the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) have shown that short procurement lead times can make it challenging for demand-response providers to participate in the market’s strategic reserve mechanism.”
AEMC said these findings had informed its decision to reinstate the long-notice Reliability and Emergency Reserve Trader (RERT) and were also being considered as part of AEMC’s assessment of a proposal to enhance the RERT.
Under the MoU, the Chief Executives of the AEMC and ARENA will meet at least every six months.
The 5-page MoU can be accessed at this PS News link.
