Australia: Accelerating Energy Transition by Forming Virtual Power Plants on Blockchain

The current trend in Australia’s energy sector is a rapid increase in the integration of renewable energy and distributed energy resources (DER) as a path to decarbonization and decentralization of energy. Australia has the highest uptake of solar globally, with more than 2.68 million rooftop solar power systems installed in total, as of 31 December 2020. About one in four households in Australia has solar panels, and this proportion rises to four in 10 in some parts of the country. At the same time, Australian households’ enthusiasm for deploying batteries resulted in the installation of 23,796 batteries with a combined capacity of 238 MWh during 2020. It brings the nation’s cumulative tally of installed battery energy storage systems- including those installed in homes, on commercial premises, and on the grid- to almost 110,000. The number of installed DER is expected to provide up to 45 percent of Australia’s electricity generation capacity by 2050.

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