e-News for power industry leaders

Issue 19 - September 2019

Welcome to this September issue of ITL.

We have recently concluded our CIDER (Conference on the Integration of Distributed Energy Resources) in Melbourne and have received some good feedback and interest in the next offering which will be in 2021. A big thankyou to the delegates who attended and those companies who sponsored and supported the event.

We have a couple more events coming up this year - our B2 Overhead Lines forum next week in Sydney and the B3 Substations Seminar in November in Hobart. We also have fast approaching our annual technical update on CIGRE activties which is on the day before our AGM in Brisbane on November 21. Information on all these events is available on our events website CIGRE EVENTS.

Of course whilst it is some way off, as announced last edition, we are very pleased to have won the rights to host the 2023 CIGRE Symposium to be held in Cairns 4-7 September 2023. (Pencil it in your diaries) This will be a signifcant event on the Global CIGRE calendar with an expected attendance of over 400 delegates and many international visitors.

The call for synopses for the 2020 Paris Session has closed wih a record 34 synopses being forwarded to Paris for review - this is a record number and if all are approved will be a record number of papers from Australia accepted to a Paris Session.

This edition of In The Loop sees two articles summarising the work and Technical Brochures arising from two Working Groups from the C5 Electricity Markets and Regulation area and a summary of the B2 Working Group looking at Inspection and Testing of Equipment and Training for Live-Line Work on Overhead Lines.

Links to relevant brochures referenced in the articles have been provided and are free to members, whilst non members can buy the articles online if they wish. Readers should note that in some cases, the cost of annual CIGRE membership and therefore access to the whole CIGRE database (some 14,000 documents, articles and technical brochures) may actually be less than, or a similar cost to buying an article as a non member. You may like to consider taking out a membership if you are considering purchasing any of the Technical Brochures or other CIGRE resources.

I would also like to highlight this issue the recent launch of the global wide CIGRE E2E campaign which aims to promote CIGRE as not just having a HV Transmission focus but highlighting that much of our work involves the LV and distribution activities and integration of renewables to the grid.

Between issues of In The Loop, we aim to keep members and other interested stakeholders up to date with significant activities through our LinkedIn and Twitter feeds as well as posting news items on our website. If you are not a subscriber, this is a great way to easily keep abreast of news regarding CIGRE work and activities. You can easily subscribe by going to the relevant sites.

Thank you for reading and if you find the content of interest, please pass the link onto fellow workmates and other colleagues/contacts who may have an interest.

Best Regards

Terry Killen
Executive Manager
CIGRE Australia

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WG C5.25: Regulation and Market Design Barriers Preventing capture of all the Value from Fast and High-Location-Freedom Energy Storage.

Modern power systems are changing due to the rapid installation of large-scale renewable energy generation coupled with the evolution of new technologies. New technical demands on the power system have highlighted the benefits that electrical energy storage systems can bring. In order to ensure these systems are installed in a timely and economical manner, market systems can be used to drive the necessary investment. However, most markets were not designed to deal with these new technologies and a number of regulation and market design barriers currently prevent the capture of all the value from them. WG C5.25 has recently produced TB 752, which examines this aspect in relation to fast and high location freedom energy storage. Australian members on the WG were Ian Rose and Ben Vanderwaal.

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WG C5.16, Costs of Electric Service, Allocation Methods, and Residential Rate Trends.

Governments and others often use global comparisons of the cost of electricity to rank the relative efficiencies of their electricity supply systems. However, these are often difficult to interpret due to hidden subsidies and the lack of alignment with wholesale cost drivers. As the penetration of consumer level roof top PV’s rapidly increases and competition between all generation is encouraged, cost alignment with retail rates becomes more and more important. Working Group C5.16 has recently produced Technical Brochure 747 to examine this topic and how it is being applied in a number of countries around the world. The Australian member of the working group was Alex Cruickshank.

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Working Group B2.64: Inspection and Testing of Equipment and Training for Live-Line Work on Overhead Lines

Live work on electrical power infrastructure is carried out around the world at low, medium and high voltage levels. Linespersons require training, and special tools and equipment to carry out these live work activities. While there are benefits of carrying out live working in terms of improved reliability, there are also increased risks and costs. These risks and costs will vary, depending on the rules and regulations imposed and the extent of risk mitigation employed. With the ever-increasing pressure to improve both technical and financial performance there is a benefit in exploring practices across the world to both improve performance and to provide reassurance that risks are being managed consistent with global practices. Working Group B2.64 has been initiated to examine these practices in relation to live line work and is currently in the process of finalising the technical brochure, which is on track for publication in 2019. The Australian member of the Working Group is Alex Price.

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CIGRE - Upcoming Events

CIGRE Australia has several key events on the horizon including our AGM in November to be held in Brisbane. Information and registration for these can be found on our website under the events tab.

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