Energy management companies Enel X and Viotas have both received a green light to run five-year trials to test how large industrial sites can be paid for shifting or reducing their peak energy demands, and beef up a market that could create 1 gigawatt (GW) of spare grid capacity.
The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) has granted waivers from market rules so the two companies can test how 20 sites with multiple grid connection points can participate in the demand response space, all without forcing the market operator to change any of its own systems.
The two trials of 10 sites apiece will provide critical case studies for a rule change request Enel X made in 2022, and to allowing the massive new data centre industry deliver on some of its promises around grid stability.
The multiple grid connection sticking point is why some of the biggest energy users in Australia, including manufacturing plants, ports, logistics hubs, water treatment facilities and data centres, are barred from being paid for demand response.
The rules aim to stop those sites gaming the system by artificially lowering usage at one connection point while increasing it at others, to get paid for demand response services that were not truly provided.
