Q&A with Merryn York, CEO Powerlink Queensland
1) How is your country pursuing policies to battle climate change and how is Powerlink supporting these policies in the electric utility industry?
Climate change action and emissions targets are key discussions topics in Australia, and are important drivers of energy policy and agenda setting. Powerlink has an important role to play in the transition to a low carbon future, predominantly through enabling connection of large-scale renewable energy projects across Queensland.
At April 2019, Powerlink had completed connection of 11 large-scale solar and wind farm projects in Queensland, adding 1467MW of generation capacity to the grid. An additional two projects are fully operational, and about 40 connection applications of about 8,000MW of new generation capacity are being progressed. These projects are important to meet state and national renewable energy targets.
Powerlink is a founding signatory of the Clean Energy Council’s Best Practice Charter for Renewable Energy Developments, and is committed to playing its part in the transition to a lower carbon energy future.
2) How is your utility (or country) developing grid technology? What do you envision for the transformation in Distribution given automation and distributed resources?
The energy industry has been undergoing change the likes of which it hasn’t seen before. The future of energy is changing and as a business in the supply chain Powerlink is certainly changing with it. How we can continue to put downward pressure on pricing, while continuing to deliver cost-effective, safe and reliable services, will remain front and centre to our decision making and future planning.
The current changes and disruption are impacting transmission directly, at both ends of the value chain. One thing we do know is that regardless of the transition underway, transmission infrastructure will remain a critical component of the electricity supply system.
Our role is changing from transporting one-directional supply of electricity from generators to major loads and distributors, to that of a facilitator or ‘platform’- interconnecting generators, loads, storage, and transporting energy from where it is generated to where it is needed. The growth in Distributed Energy Resources (DER) brings challenges for managing the transmission system, but it also offers opportunities for how we can implement grid technologies to manage peaks and better utilise the network.
Falling technology costs are also opening doors for innovative solutions that empower customers. They are moving towards generating and storing their own energy, and being more dynamic in how they respond to market signals. The future is moving to allowing customers to become partners in the power system.
There has never been a greater opportunity to be part of significant change – designing and planning for the transmission network of the future. All while delivering a more secure, clean, affordable and reliable energy system that puts customers at the centre. We need to be future focused but also need to keep things real, being mindful that our customers will have the capability to be part of the transition and will be front and centre as we navigate the change.
3) Describe your vision for the power system mid-century noting disrupters along the way?
Powerlink has developed a 30-year Network Vision to explore the potential services desired by customers from the future energy system over the next 30 years across a range of scenarios. It also considers the potential future role for a transmission company to meet those needs. In all scenarios, the transmission system will remain a critical component of the overall electricity supply system.
Development of a 30-year outlook and potential scenarios for how the energy grid evolves will help guide how we manage the biggest impactors on our business – digitisation, decarbonisation and decentralisation – and support our strategic planning processes to successfully navigate the changes ahead. The network of the future will need to optimise the value of existing assets to:
- meet changing network conditions by providing flexible and fit for purpose solutions that optimise network utilisation;
- design and operate the network in a high renewable, low fault level environment;
- integrate communication and control systems to take advantage of the network management opportunities presented by increased penetrations of Distributed Energy Resources (DER);
- utilise data analytics in network balancing, operations and asset management.
Being on the front foot in managing the impacts of technology, customer choice, renewable integration and an evolving energy market will be critical to our future success.
4) Describe your vision for the workforce mid-century to achieve the power system at mid-century?
Powerlink’s underlying business function will still be to deliver safe, reliable and cost effective transmission services.
However, increased data and information will be available on network performance and customer energy usage which will provide new opportunities and require new roles in areas such as data analytics to better understand data (e.g. customer segmentation, impact of weather patterns) and solve problems in innovative ways.
At Powerlink, our goal is to reflect the diverse communities and customers we provide a service to – now and into the future - as well as creating a great place to work for everyone. We recognise that each individual brings their own unique capabilities, experiences and characteristics to their work, and that a talented and diverse workforce brings competitive advantage. By harnessing that diversity of thought, we will be better positioned to deliver innovative solutions, which will be vital to deal with the complex problems we face now, and in the mid-century future. This has always been a focus at Powerlink, but now more than ever we need to tap into that diversity of thought to see us through the rapid transition occurring in the energy sector.
Our Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan focuses on providing benefits and solutions for customers by:
- Fostering inclusive practices that support our people to be the best they can be
- Enabling our people to work together to create shared success
- Supporting our people to reach their full potential
- Creating a workforce that reflects the community and customers it serves
- Being a great place to work for everyone
A workforce that is collaborative, diverse and based on a culture that embraces change and new thinking, will be vital to ensuring we can continue to enrich modern lifestyles and drive the economy. With this in mind, we will be best placed to tackle what the future brings – for our people and the energy industry as a whole.
5) How can CIGRE help your efforts?
CIGRE has a key role to play in sharing knowledge, expertise and research with members, particularly insights across energy companies in its global networks. At a time when rapid change is occurring around the globe, it is more important than ever to collaborate, share collective knowledge and consider lessons learned.
POWERLINK QUEENSLAND
Powerlink is a State Government Owned Corporation which owns, operates and maintains the transmission network that extends 1700km across Queensland, comprising more than 15,000km of transmission lines and 140 substations.
We deliver the transmission services needed to support economic growth and enrich lifestyles across the country. We have a strong history of connecting customers to the energy they need, providing electricity to almost four million Queenslanders.
Powerlink’s role in the electricity supply chain is to transport high voltage electricity, generated at major power stations, through its transmission grid to the distribution networks to supply customers. We also transport electricity to high usage industrial customers such as rail companies, and mines and mineral processing facilities.