THOUSANDS of Melburnians will receive text messages inviting them to turn off pool pumps or airconditioners on scorching days this summer in return for a free weekend’s power use.
Energy providers will roll out a pilot demand management program — already widely used overseas — as a key measure to avoid the risk of blackouts during heatwaves.
Electricity retailer Powershop, which has more than 100,000 customers, will use a mobile notification system for its Victorian households.
Customers will be under no obligation to take part.
Customers can voluntarily opt in to reduce their energy consumption in exchange for a financial incentive.
By reducing energy usage for between one to four hours, customers could receive the equivalent of a weekend of free electricity.
The Australian Energy Market Operator and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency will today announce 10 pilot projects to be funded under a Turnbull Government program to manage electricity supply during extreme peaks.
The trial is a response to warnings from Australia’s energy market operator both Victoria and South Australia needed to take urgent meas- ures to avoid an increased risk of energy shortfalls.
Industry and energy experts believe wide-scale adoption of the approach could free up about 3000MW of power — twice the power generated by the recently decommissioned Hazelwood coal-fired station.
Households, industry and business will also receive incentives to switch to backup generation or dispatch their energy storage for short periods when electricity reserves reach critically low levels.
Five of the projects in the $35.7 million three-year pilot — to be delivered by Energy Australia, United Energy, EnerNOC, Powershop and Zen Ecosystems — will deliver a combined 110MW of emergen- cy supply to Victoria by 2020-21, with 63MW available this summer.
United Energy will use voltage control devices installed at substations across its distribution network in Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula to deliver demand response.
During a peak event, it will slightly lower the voltage across its whole network of 600,000 households and businesses and will use smartmeters to ensure the voltage remains at a safe limit.
Federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg said the approach had been successfully used overseas as a cost effective way of managing demand and price spikes.
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