The Australian Government has provided up to $100 million to the Smart Grid, Smart City initiative that will demonstrate an electricity system of the future—one that uses ICT to improve the efficiency of power production, delivery and use. The project will employ a mix of innovative technologies to demonstrate the potential of smart grids to manage peak electricity demand, identify and resolve faults on the grid, and help customers make informed choices about their energy use. The project, conducted in NSW’s Newcastle and the Hunter regions, is currently being rolled out. The energy utility Ausgrid is leading the industry consortium, which includes IBM Australia, GE Energy Australia, AGL Energy, Sydney Water, Hunter Water Australia, and Newcastle City Council.
The project will gather robust information about the costs and benefits of smart grids, and roll out Australia’s first commercial scale smart grid. Information gathered from the project will inform the business case for future deployment of smart grid technologies and applications and decisions by government, electricity providers, technology suppliers and consumers across Australia.
The proposed NBN synergy projects under the Smart Grid, Smart City project are:
- Project 1 – Smart Home Digital Gateway. This project involves the design of a ‘smart meter base’ that could be used to consolidate an optical network termination unit and smart meter on to the same footprint, allowing use of NBN services for smart metering with minimal overhead.
- Project 2 – NBN Support for Smart Grid. This project involves a physical trial of NBN services used by Ausgrid meters for the delivery of both smart grid and smart metering applications. Subject to NBN Co’s endorsement and support, the trial would cover about 3000 homes/endpoints. It would concern developing NBN Co’s service offerings relevant to an energy utility, associated business models and technical synergies.
