Mr BAYLEY - My question is of a technical nature. One of the issues we're contacted about regularly by people in the agricultural sector is that those who have invested in renewable energy on their farm, on a meter on their farm on a high-intensity piece of infrastructure, an irrigation pump or a dairy for example. They're exporting surplus energy into the grid and then reimporting it on a different meter at a different part of their farm - same entity, same property, having to export into the grid surplus energy at a low price and reimport it at the higher price.
I know there are questions here for TasNetworks in terms of the use of the poles and wires and we'll look forward to having that conversation over the next couple of days, but I guess the question for Aurora is really the technical capacity when it comes to smart meters to be able to - in real time - record the inputs into the grid and then the imports back onto the property and be able to balance those out so that we can share power across numerous meters on a farm. With the current technology, is that technologically possible at the moment and if not, what are the kinds of barriers in the way to be able to do that?
Ms O'KANE - It's technically possible, but in terms of whether we can do it at the moment, do you want to call someone up or talk?
Mr CLARK - In the context there is an element of power-sharing tariffs and it's really a TasNetworks question, so they would be appropriate. I certainly fully understand the point you are making. Smart meters absolutely have the capability of measuring inputs into the day and they do and you can absolutely have the situation where you can have one meter putting out and one exporting in. I think the other thing crossing over there is the time periods of the day. The tariffs exporting in the middle of the day are obviously not as high as the peak, so if they're consuming it in the peak the solar is not on, so in reality our cost of energy is much higher in the peak when the sun sets, and in the middle of the day, to be honest, the FIT tariff that we pay is way in excess of where the market is. That's a typical syndrome around Australia at the moment. Energy in the middle of the day is worth very little, but we pay a very generous FIT tariff in Tasmania.
Mr BAYLEY - I guess that goes to the point, which is that these farmers who are investing significant amounts of money in largely solar arrays on high-volume metres are using what they can, but they're exporting into the grid during the day, not getting a great feed-in tariff for that, because you'd pay a little bit more, but it's still not great because it's not necessarily the best time. But at the very same moment on a different metre on their farm, they have another meter, another potentially high-energy-utilising piece of infrastructure, another pump or the homestead, for example, and it would simple drive further investment in renewables. It would deliver some level of equity for those customers and it would enable them to maximise the return on investment of their renewable energy if they could export it and could share it around metres on their farms.
I'm hearing that it's technically possible to do all those different equations in real time - to be able to export and import. Is that the case? Putting aside the TasNetworks issue, because I understand there's other issues there.
Mr CLARK - I think the missing link that you're not bringing into that discussion is storage. A farm has the absolute ability today to buy battery storage, put that on their farm, and store their solar export into the battery and bring it out in the peak. Where people are maximising the value of solar across Australia at the moment is the shifting between the peak and the off-peak. So if that farmer was to store it in the off-peak during the day and bring it out into peak, then they would get that financial benefit. They really need to further invest in storage.
Mr BAYLEY - With respect, that's another significant investment for that farmer. At the very time he's exporting into the grid, he's also importing from the grid on a different metre that very same power. I guess the question is, given the metering technology, whether it is technically possible to do that, which I'm hearing it is?
Prof. O'KANE - Yes. In particular, it's having storage and the network on the farm. This is a problem right across Australia and the world. As we see battery prices come down, another question for the farmer is does he buy the battery now or later? It's going to be a difficult challenge for some time. Probably in a few years' time, it will be really good for them to buy that battery, but they'd probably hesitate now. This is a problem we face everywhere in Australia at the moment.
Mr BAYLEY - Instead of investing in a battery, he could obviously build his own microgrid, he could connect their metres up on the farm.
Prof. O'KANE - Precisely. That's exactly the issue.
Mr BAYLEY - But, the reality is that they're connected already by the poles and wires owned by TasNetworks. There are metres on each of those facilities that are importing power. I'm just exploring the technology around being able to equate in real-time the imports and the exports, and whether Aurora could metre that and administer it.
Mr CLARK - Yes. If I can add one thing further, the advent of community batteries will cover, to a degree, what you're raising. We are hoping to participate with TasNetworks on a trial, to put a community battery in the north that they've got funding for. If that is with the appropriate tariffs and that starts to address some of what you're talking about - how do you bring greater value to a consumer who has solar than what they would otherwise get in their FIT tariff. As I said, we are actively exploring and doing a trial of a community battery. We're seeing community batteries all around Australia taking hold and being trialled in the same vein.
Mr BAYLEY - Yes, batteries are absolutely part of the solution. I think power sharing is, as well.
Mr CLARK - It may not be an on-farm battery; community batteries may play that role.
Mr BAYLEY - Sure thing.
