Insights 2018: Sam Staples

What opportunities do you predict for your industry in 2018?

2018 looks to be an exciting year for Energy Storage. I expect the industry to continue growing exponentially and market offerings to become increasingly diverse in regards to the technologies available and in use on the grid. 2017 saw significant growth in this sector with some major milestones achieved in Australia. The largest lithium battery in the world was recently turned on in South Australia, paired with a wind farm. As this installation proves the value and reliability of energy storage, particularly where paired with renewable generation, we will see the number of approved energy storage installations increase across the country. When considering the number of utility-scale solar and wind installations, and taking into account the upcoming closures of certain coal-fired generators, the potential market and value of energy storage makes this technology increasingly valuable to Australia’s energy networks. Another growth area for this technology is with the end consumer, for both commercial and residential applications. Energy storage costs have been falling rapidly for the past few years, making the financial case for homeowners and commercial business much more attractive. Feed-in tariffs for energy consumers who have invested in solar panels have begun to expire in certain regions, with significantly reduced rates being offered when exporting excess energy to the grid. This will only increase the incentive for customers to consume as much of their generated electricity as possible by utilising energy storage. On the commercial side, peak shaving has proven to be a financially beneficial use of energy storage technologies, even when not paired with renewable generation.

What impact will smart technology have on your industry in 2018?

Smart technology and software solutions are a big factor in the large-scale uptake of energy storage technologies by enabling energy networks to effectively manage the increasing number of intermittent generation sources and stored energy connected to the energy grid. Distributed energy resources such as residential solar have significantly changed the demand curve for energy, and while distributed energy storage has the capability of levelling this demand, it also creates unknown variables for utilities, particularly when the number, size and location of these systems are unknown. Smart software is beginning to enable utilities to utilise these distributed energy resources and harness them to stabilise the electricity grid, a trend which will increase in importance and effectiveness in 2018 as these technologies are improved and innovative access models are being explored. Blockchain accounting is another technology that is being experimented with in Australia and overseas to allow for peer-to-peer energy trading, a function that will significantly improve the financial case for customer sited solar plus storage. While the technology is not exactly in its infancy, its application for energy trading is in the early stages but is quickly becoming an important tool.

On a more localised scale, smart management systems for energy storage are becoming increasingly sophisticated, allowing owners of the systems to maximise the financial benefit of their energy assets. For larger-scale sites, particularly microgrids, weather-predicting software is being implemented to ensure that energy storage assets are prepared for sudden reductions in solar resources due to weather factors. As these improvements continue in 2018, they will increase the effectiveness of the technology.

How is Australia’s energy policy uncertainty affecting your industry?

Policy uncertainty is never a good thing for investment and the energy industry is feeling the effects of this longstanding problem right now. Years of policy uncertainty and lagging incentives slowed the uptake of large-scale renewable energy and particularly energy storage, which has rebounded in recent years. Energy providers are finding the maintenance and upkeep of ageing coal-fired generators cost prohibitive on a purely economic basis, but replacing the generation capacity of these facilities is not something that can be done overnight. Large-scale wind and solar for power generation is now significantly less expensive to build and operate than a new coal power plant, but due to the variable output from sun and wind, cannot 100% power the electricity grid without some form of energy storage. The variety of storage technologies, the speed at which some of them can be deployed, and the dropping costs are making the addition of energy storage an integral part of Australia’s energy grid. In short, while policy has the ability to speed the uptake of energy storage, economics is the main driver.

How should Australian industry respond to global competition?

While Australia has a number of home-grown energy storage technologies and companies, the majority of the manufacturing is done overseas due to costs. When talking about Lithium batteries in particular, Australia has the unique advantage of being one of the only countries with access to all natural resources needed in the manufacture of this particular chemistry. Investment in highly automated manufacturing facilities to capitalise on localised mining of the resources has the potential to position Australia as a major global producer of high-quality, lithium-based batteries. This would not only provide an economic boost, but reduce the cost of the product locally.

Sam Staples is the Sales Manager and Conference Program Manager for the Australian Energy Storage Conference and Exhibition, a business to business trade event focused on educating consumers and facilitating business connections in the Australian energy storage and renewable energy industries. 2018 will be Sam’s 4th year managing the event.