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					</table><p>India&#8217;s power system must safely and successfully accelerate the adoption of Distributed Energy Resources (DER) such as solar, storage, and electric vehicles for it to meet its climate and energy goals, the U.S.-based National Renewable Energy Laboratory (<a href="https://www.nrel.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NREL</a>) has said.</p>
<p>Increased DER integration will curb the country&#8217;s emissions and lower customers&#8217; costs, improve system reliability, and present economic opportunities for India&#8217;s private sector.</p>
<p>At the same time, more DERs mean the state utilities that manage India&#8217;s grid must grapple with the potential impacts, such as voltage violations and demand shifts, that DERs may have on the country&#8217;s medium- and low-voltage distribution networks. Failure to manage these changes and risks could delay the rollout of DERs and other renewable energy technologies and slow down India&#8217;s overall energy transition.</p>
<p>As India aims to increase wind and solar generation capacity by 2030 considerably, it is crucial to monitor how the distribution system (small-scale wind and solar generation connected to the distribution system) responds to and supports the Indian power grid.</p>
<p>This alone will allow India to reach levels of more than 20% of online instantaneous electricity generation being supplied by DERs. The DER systems are likely to impact bulk power system performance, reliability, and stability and highlight the need for well-designed, locally appropriate interconnection standards.</p>
<p>Last year, India&#8217;s Central Electricity Regulatory Commission <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/measures-reduce-grid-frequency-fluctuations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">issued</a> regulations to limit frequency fluctuations within the operating band in the interest of grid security.</p>
<p>In the past, NREL has supported the Bureau of Indian Standards (<a href="https://www.bis.gov.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BIS</a>) in adopting the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1547-2018 standard in 2023. While this marks a significant step towards implementation, this standard&#8217;s requirements are yet to be incorporated into India&#8217;s grid code. NREL has made a few recommendations on seamless DER integration.</p>
<p><strong>Improving data management </strong></p>
<p>NREL has worked with distribution utilities in Delhi—BSES Yamuna Power Limited (<a href="https://www.bsesdelhi.com/web/bypl" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BYPL</a>) and BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (<a href="https://www.bsesdelhi.com/web/bses" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BRPL</a>), where the tools and processes to collect data for DER modeling were lacking. This prevents the government bodies from understanding the landscape of their energy profile and the impacts DER integration might have on the distribution grid.</p>
<p>To navigate this, NREL created the Simple Synthetic Distribution Feeder Generation Tool. The tool, which builds synthetic distribution feeder data models using existing, open-source information for the local area, can help BYPL and BRPL overcome data availability issues and kick-start their DER analysis projects.</p>
<p>This also saves them from waiting for months or even years to collect this data.</p>
<p><strong>Advanced DER risk analysis </strong></p>
<p>DER growth and interconnection must also ensure that it does not cause power quality issues, resulting in outages.</p>
<p>NREL and Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited (<a href="https://www.tangedco.gov.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TANGEDCO</a>) devised an approach to distribution network analysis that defined risk by assessing the magnitude of power quality violations, the number of customers impacted, and the duration of violations. Through this approach, NREL found that distributed solar can improve TANGEDCO&#8217;s network conditions.</p>
<p>Solar inverters without advanced inverter functions (or the ability to change their power output as a function of control parameters, such as voltage) were sufficient to reduce undervoltage problems. However, an advanced inverter function would certainly provide more benefit as solar deployment levels increase to address overvoltage and undervoltage problems.</p>
<p><strong>Drafting India-specific standards </strong></p>
<p>As the IEEE standard is fundamentally a U.S.-centric standard designed around a 60-hertz system, there is a need to use real-world Indian power system data, which is critical to designing grid support functions specific to the country.</p>
<p>In its efforts to facilitate India&#8217;s adoption of the IEEE standard 1547-2018, NREL attempted to understand how the standard applies to international power systems that may have different operating characteristics.</p>
<p>It found that India&#8217;s 50-Hz system requires a locally appropriate adaptation of the standard, involving looking into active voltage regulation, unique grid topologies, levels of DER adoption (present and future), system protection schemes, and bulk power system frequency response.</p>
<p>NREL is also figuring out a way to adapt its PREconfiguring and Controlling Inverter Set-Points (PRECISE) tool as another method for modeling each utility&#8217;s needs for interconnection.</p>
<p>However, India&#8217;s state bodies are taking the lead in adopting tools that optimize DER growth to support a more sustainable power system for the future.</p>


Failure to Manage Grid Violations Can Risk India’s Energy Transition: NREL


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					</table><p>The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (<a href="https://arena.gov.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ARENA</a>) has invited expressions of interest (EoI) for the first round of Community Batteries Funding of up to AU $120 million (~$81.2 million) to deploy community batteries across Australia.</p>
<p>The Community Batteries Funding Program is expected to facilitate the installation of community batteries nationwide to reduce energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions and alleviate strain on the power grid.</p>
<p>ARENA had invited proposals for the first round of the program, which involved a funding allocation of up to AU $20 million (~$13.5 million) to deploy at least five community batteries.</p>
<p>To qualify for funding, every community battery should have a capacity between 50 kW and 5 MW and be connected to the distribution network.</p>
<p>The first round of funding will be divided equally between two separate streams:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Stream A:</strong> This stream is designated for Distributed Network Service Providers (DNSPs), entities responsible for managing the local power distribution network.</li>
<li><strong>Stream B:</strong> The second stream is for all eligible applicants other than DNSPs, such as community groups or businesses.</li>
</ul>
<p>The federal budget announced in October 2022 included a A$200 million (~$134.98 million) allotment for the implementation of the Community Batteries for Household Solar initiative with the goal of installing 400 community batteries in Australia.</p>
<p>ARENA was allotted A$171 million (~$115.41 million) in funding to oversee the deployment of at least 342 of these batteries.</p>
<p>After completing the first round, the remainder of the funds will be utilized for a second round that would cater to projects with longer development timelines.</p>
<p>Australia’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (<a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DCCEEW</a>), which conducted the first round of applications for a similar program under the Business Grants Hub, is expected to deliver the first set of 58 batteries. The department is currently assessing the applications received.</p>
<p>Community batteries are designed to store excess solar energy in the distribution network, which can be used later. By doing so, they help to reduce household electricity costs and alleviate pressure on the local electricity grid.</p>
<p>According to ARENA CEO Darren Miller, community batteries are crucial in continuously optimizing distributed energy resources in the electricity grid.</p>
<p>Deploying such batteries will reduce network costs and alleviate constraints in areas with high solar penetration, leading to lower electricity costs for all consumers.</p>
<p>According to the latest Australian Energy Market Operator (<a href="https://aemo.com.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AEMO</a><u>)</u> data, the total number of distributed energy resources is over 2.7 million. These resources include solar panels, batteries, wind turbines, and other technologies that generate or store electricity on a small scale, often for individual homes or businesses.</p>
<p>Over 190,527 new solar PV systems were registered across Australia in 2022, representing the largest share of new additions. Other technologies, such as batteries, wind turbines, and electric vehicles, also grew significantly.</p>
<p>As of the most recent update, the cumulative total of registered resources across Australia has reached over 12.8 million. Solar photovoltaic systems represent the largest share of cumulative registrations, followed by batteries, small wind turbines, and other technologies.</p>
<p>The data helps us understand the increasing adoption of distributed energy resources in Australia and the need for community batteries to support the integration of these resources into the grid.</p>
<p>In December last year, ARENA also <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/australia-provide-118-million-battery-projects-country" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> A$176 million (~$118 million) in conditional funding to support eight grid-scale battery projects nationwide.</p>
<p>Recently, the agency also <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/australia-au29-5-million-university-solar-research" target="_blank" rel="noopener">awarded</a> AU$29.5 million (~$19.5 million) to the University of New South Wales’ (UNSW) School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering (SPREE) for research in solar technologies.</p>


Australia Announces $81 Million Funding for Community Battery Deployment

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