Project EDGE wins APEC ESCI Best Practice Award

Professor Nando Ochoa and Professor Pierluigi Mancarella, based in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, lead Project EDGE.

The project is a world-first that brings together a diverse range of stakeholders from the electricity value chain, including customers, Distributed Energy Resources (DER) owners, aggregators, distributors, the system/market operator and researchers, to contribute to ongoing efforts to design future electricity markets, particularly so-called two-sided markets.

Almost a quarter of Australian houses has solar photovoltaic systems, and there are more than 100,000 residential batteries in the country. These DERs also create opportunities for their owners to provide services to the Australian Energy Market Operator through aggregators. However, as the volume of DER providing services increases, it is important to ensure the integrity of the poles and wires to which houses are connected. This is where EDGE plays a role.

The project entails the creation of algorithms for operating envelopes and service co-optimisation. Trials are being conducted to test operating envelopes and the trading of local services as part of the project. The research will help to better understand the complexity, interactions and challenges that distribution companies and the electricity sector will face globally as they continue to accommodate the adoption of distributed energy resources.

Project EDGE was awarded funding in 2020 by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). It is a collaboration involving AusNet Services, Mondo, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) and the University of Melbourne.

The APEC Energy Smart Communities Initiative (ESCI) Best Practices Awards Program recognises excellence in policy formulation, strategy development and implementation processes. This year’s Awards Program featured 65 cases from 17 APEC economies.