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Article
Power outages, climate events and renewable energy: Reviewing energy storage policy and regulatory options for Australia
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
  • Nigel Martin, ANU College of Business & Economics
  • John Rice, Zayed University
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-1-2021
Abstract

© 2020 Elsevier Ltd The incidence of harsh climate change and weather events is having profound impacts on energy networks. In recent times, Australia has suffered several network failures and power outages that have placed human lives and community infrastructure at extreme risk. Subsequently, a diverse array of energy storage systems have been commended as a potential solution for electricity network performance and resilience issues. At this critical juncture, this review suggests that an assemblage of currently lacking targeted energy storage systems and supply development policies will be required to grow and advance future domestic energy storage assets and infrastructure; while also providing a mechanism to address changing climatic conditions, variations in electricity demand and associated demand response, and a reduced dependency on coal-fired power generation. Importantly, the recognition of energy storage systems services value across the energy supply chain will be a critical component of future systems growth. In addition, while some specific regulatory changes to create a new energy capacity market will be required, the majority of electricity market rules and procedures will need to be maintained to allow entry of energy storage systems in scheduled and semi-scheduled modes. The review also identified the requirement for strong governance that supports continued renewable energy and energy storage investment, intergovernmental cooperation, and technical network upgrades. Ideally, the implementation of these policy options and regulations should result in a robust and resilient power grid, reduced emissions and economically efficient energy storage systems rollouts.

Publisher
Elsevier BV
Disciplines
Keywords
  • Climate change,
  • Energy storage systems,
  • Policy,
  • Regulatory,
  • Renewable energy
Scopus ID
85098464068
Indexed in Scopus
Yes
Open Access
No
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2020.110617
Citation Information
Nigel Martin and John Rice. "Power outages, climate events and renewable energy: Reviewing energy storage policy and regulatory options for Australia" Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews Vol. 137 (2021) p. 110617 ISSN: <a href="https://v2.sherpa.ac.uk/id/publication/issn/1364-0321" target="_blank">1364-0321</a>
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/john-rice/8/