SIEW Roundtable E explored the topic of integrating innovative investments in energy markets. By Harivina Gunnaasankaraan
The final session of SIEW roundtables saw panellists discuss the possible innovations that could be integrated with renewables to ensure their sustainability in energy markets.
Dr Jennifer Riesz, Principal of Australian Energy Market Operator started off by introducing the impact of distributed energy resources on power systems. She remarked that half of demand in Australia is currently met by rooftop solar PV panels and that this number was predicted to increase in the coming years.
It was also important to raise consumer awareness to more effectively integrate renewable sources in energy markets, said Dae Kyeong Kim, Senior Energy Specialist at the Asian Development Bank. He added that regulators and policy makers should ensure that policies integrated into the market should be market specific, and that there was no “one-size-fits-all” framework.
Meanwhile, Itamar Orland, Head of Frontier Power Research, commented that power systems have evolved from two-thirds thermal generation to two-thirds renewable generation. He added that with the introduction of renewables, price volatility had increased with much wider spreads between prices. The frequency of negative prices in markets, he highlighted, had also increased in present years.
Dr Aaron Praktiknjo, Assistant Professor, Energy Resources and Innovation Economics at the E.ON Energy Research Center, also contributed his insights into how renewable energy generation had impacted energy prices. He explained that with the share of renewable energy increasing by a factor of six in Germany, due to
feed-in tariffs and financial incentives, energy prices were dipping significantly lower and were not providing sufficient investment signals in the energy market.
In Singapore, meanwhile, the adoption of renewable energy has not been high in due to land constraints, said Martin Lim, Co-founder and Chief Operations Officer, Electrify Asia. He remarked that the authorities could consider capacity models to integrate higher volumes of solar capacity in the energy market.
The introduction of technology was also key to promoting the renewables sector. Nicolas Payen, CEO and Co-founder of Positive Energy, which provides a blockchain-based asset financing, trading and management platform for renewable energy, said that his organisation was hoping to digitalise its asset valuation and cash flow management for renewable energy technology.