Using IoT to enable Agile Trading of Distributed Energy Resources

In 2018, the number of Australian households with rooftop solar passed 2 million – that’s one in five.¹ Tomorrow’s smart grid will be a constellation of many generation sources working together, shifting from the traditional one-way power flows from generation through grids to consumers to two-way flows including from the customers back into the grid. As we move towards decentralisation, there is an urgent need for new business models and the technology to support it. A new wave of innovative technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), Edge and Fog computing, blockchain, machine learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI) will become key enablers for such a transformation.

Cisco in partnership with the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and SAS embarked on a trial where the feasibility and economic benefits of DER aggregation and a real-time energy brokerage in a residential framework were successfully designed, tested and verified. This trial focused on the operation and trading of PV solar panel energy through the concept of a DER aggregator.

The outcomes of this project show that by leveraging IoT, realtime distributed data and analytics we can enable DER trading thus reducing customer’s cost and maintaining profit for aggregator/ retailers. It also allows DER owners (“prosumers”) to make smarter decisions on when to sell their DER for better profit, and with whom to trade. This model presents an opportunity to reduce overall cost and increase security of energy for Australia.

To learn more read the Cisco – IoT Data Fabric and Analytics of Agile Trading and DER – Whitepaper

1 Clean Energy Australia Report