A new project to harvest data on household energy usage is being touted as an alternative to multi-billion-dollar grid upgrades. It's aimed at increasing stability in the system by improving consumer habits and the energy efficiency of appliances.
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00:00South Australia is awash in renewable energy, be it solar panels on rooftops or wind turbines
00:08in paddocks, but the high uptake is a double edged sword.
00:13Electrification is going to increase demand on the grid, which is going to mean major
00:18upgrades to the grid.
00:19At an estimated cost of billions of dollars, which would drive up electricity bills.
00:25Instead the government and SA Power Networks is spending $14 million in a bid to pull the
00:31plug on those price hikes.
00:33If we could manage energy use really, really well, we could potentially avoid all of those
00:38upgrades and save customers an awful lot of money.
00:41They'll monitor 500 customers to get a better understanding of how energy is being used.
00:47Households will be encouraged to sign up with offers of free electric vehicle charges or
00:53significant discounts to switch to more efficient smart appliances such as air conditioners.
00:59Pallets like these help us to make the planning of how we need to invest in the energy system
01:04over the next 10 years to ensure that we secure savings for households, but also don't over
01:10invest in the wrong areas.
01:12Mark Vincent estimates electrified homes and cars could halve their energy costs by optimising
01:18energy use in response to network conditions.
01:21We're encouraging, supporting, incentivising customers to use energy at times when the
01:27network and the system as a whole has capacity.
01:30Consumers have till early December to put their hand up for the trial.