Research
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Keeping up with the competitionWholesale demand response brings benefits to consumers and reduces energy prices. A rule change currently being considered by the Australian Energy Market Commission is supported by a wide range of consumer groups, but opposed by incumbent energy companies. Demand response is being introduced in major markets such as the USA, EU and China, where similar patterns of support and opposition have been observed. -
Cross-Industry Pressure Builds for ‘Demand Response’ Energy ReformA broad range of Australian business and industry representatives have written a letter supporting changes to the country’s energy rules that would allow demand response aggregators to enter the National Energy Market. The proposed change would allow companies to pay households, farms and businesses to reduce their use of energy, instead of turning on more expensive generators, when demand and wholesale prices are high. Signatories to the le... Read More
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Fair Dinkum Power Senate Submission The Australia Institute has long argued that the decline of fossil fuels in the electricity sector presents great opportunities for consumers, in terms of affordability, reliability and sustainability. The traditional model of centralised generators with a monopoly on supply is dying. Information and computing technology is providing the capability for consumers to flip the switch and become ‘prosumers’, able to produce, store, trade and manage... Read More
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Select Committee on Electric Vehicles – General Submission Electric vehicles are a very small segment of the Australian automobile market currently, with sales of just over 2000 vehicles last year, in a market with over 1 million annual sales.However technological and policy progress internationally is likely to see the global market grow significantly, with some predicting annual sales of 30 million electric vehicles in 2030. Electric vehicles pose significant opportunities to reduce emissions, imp... Read More
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Implementing wholesale demand response: AEMC submisson Australian Energy Market Commission is conducting a Reliability Frameworks Review, which is looking at how to improve reliability in the National Electricity Market.In our submission The Australia Institute argues that the best market reform under consideration by the Commission is wholesale demand response. Demand response allows energy consumers to reduce or delay their consumption of electricity and sell that conservation into the market.Whole... Read More
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Consumers left exposed to fake ‘discounts’ from energy retailersA new report from The Australia Institute Climate & Energy Program shows that a Federal Government policy to prevent energy consumers being tricked onto expensive ‘discount’ contracts is unlikely to work. In his budget speech last week, Treasurer Scott Morrison said, ‘We will keep the pressure on the big energy companies to give you a better deal.’ Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg proposed a rule change to the Australian Energy Marke... Read More -
Time to join the budding revolution in local power schemesEveryone is saying Tasmania is a becoming a clean energy powerhouse, so how do we make sure ordinary Tasmanians get a piece of the action?[This article was first published in the Hobart Mercury on 9 Feb 2018 - here]One of the best solutions would be for communities to become investors and take power back from corporations and governments.Few people realise that communities can own energy companies. In the US, Rural Electric Cooperatives serve an... Read More
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People power: How Tasmania can fast-track community energyThe Australia Institute Tasmania has released a new report today which examines a proposal to fast-track the development of community-owned energy generators in Tasmania.“Community owned renewable energy will deliver financial benefits for Tasmanian communities at the same time as helping improve energy security, ” said Dan Cass, the report’s author.“Community owned energy is booming around the world, but Australia lags behind.“Rural electric coo... Read More
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Renewables as Climate Strategy: Generating Power From Energy Clean energy technology is becoming competitive with fossil fuels, globally. This provides the basis for a new strategic approach to solving the political aspect of the climate threat.This is a speech given at 'Imagining a Different Future Conference', Hobart, on 8 February 2018, hosted by the University of Tasmania, the University of Utrecht Ethics Institute, the University of Tasmania's Institute for the Study of Social Change, the Antarctic Cl... Read More
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The scientific way to avoid electricity price spikes, saving Australians thousandsImagine if petrol prices went up from $1.29/litre to $180/litre for brief parts of the day on a few days of the year. Worse still, imagine drivers had no way of knowing what price they were paying until after they’d filled up.[This article was first published by Crikey here]If that was the case, Australia’s energy ministers meeting in Brisbane today at the COAG Energy Council would have ways to help drivers avoid the price spike at the top o... Read More