Future Electricity Markets Summit

Background

The International Energy Agency, the Australian National University Energy Change Institute (in collaboration with the Energy Research Institutes Council for Australia – ERICA) and the Australian Energy Security Board are pleased to host the International Future Electricity Markets Summit.

Energy systems around the globe are undergoing profound transitions in technology, market participation, and production and consumption patterns. These transitions present great opportunities, but also call for a deep re-thinking of long-established market designs.  This is particularly germane in the case of electricity, as such developments challenge assumptions around the competitive behaviour of market participants, and the regulatory and security arrangements that are built into the prevailing electricity market designs.

This invitation-only event will bring together 100 or so leading experts currently shaping  the future of electricity markets in engineering, economics, regulatory and policy dimensions. It will confront the challenges of implementing an end-to-end electricity market design that successfully integrates traditional generation and transmission assets, utility scale variable renewable energy generators, and energy storage technologies, with the rapidly evolving distribution network where these resources compete with distributed energy resources to supply millions of customers.

The stakes are large. The imperative of all electricity markets is to chart a path for a new marketplace where all these ongoing innovations are put to work to the benefit of the customer, allowing for a world with high shares of renewables, where a smooth transition ensures a cleaner, economical and secure system for all.

Australia is ideally positioned to host such a summit. While Australia’s electricity sector has one of the highest shares of fossil fuel use in the developed world (84% in 2017), it is transforming at the most rapid rate through the adoption of renewables.  Currently Australia is installing 250W per capita of renewables each year – higher than any other country and five times faster than the US or the EU.  With the highest penetration rate of rooftop solar in the world (over 20%), Australia could reach 50% renewable electricity after 2025.

This event will provide significant input to policy development for stakeholders participating in the post-2025 market design discussion for Australia.

Please indicate your availability by responding to:     FutureElectricityMarketsSummit@esb.org.au 

Peter Fraser,  International Energy Agency

Prof. Kenneth Baldwin, ANU Energy Change Institute

Dr. Kerry Schott, AO, Energy Security Board