Clean energy, meet smart energy: Matching renewables with flexible demand for an affordable and reliable energy system

Australia’s transition to clean energy requires the complementary development of dispatchable capacity to maintain the affordability and reliability of the electricity system. The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) has proposed a wholesale demand response mechanism to reward consumers for reducing demand when electricity prices are high, but this is just the start of the journey.

On Monday 25 November 2019, ahead of the AEMC’s final determination on the wholesale demand response mechanism, the Energy Efficiency Council will hold a forum on how policymakers and regulators can facilitate demand response opportunities for energy users, and how businesses can seize those opportunities.

The forum will bring together 120 business leaders, policy makers and influencers to examine the role of demand response in a clean energy system. Discussion will include what steps are required to enable a truly two-way energy market, how we can use flexible demand to reduce network costs, and how to overcome the challenges in selling demand response to both monopoly networks and the wholesale market.