Consumer advocates have urged the Australian Energy Regulator to closely scrutinise monopoly network owner Transgrid’s proposal to pass onto consumers $400m of the more than $1.1 billion cost for synchronous condensers it says are needed for system strength in NSW.
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Consumer group the Justice and Equity Centre warns those slated for Transgrid could become “an expensive redundant asset under regulatory arrangements that transfer that cost and risk in entirety to consumers”.
“Within a decade, the quantum and maturity of battery energy storage systems and other inverter-based resources will almost certainly render them the most effective option for new system security services,” Justice and Equity Centre program director for energy Douglas McCloskey wrote in the group’s submission.
“Indeed, it is possible – as with large thermal generators – that these services will be able to be procured almost as a byproduct of operation or with relatively trivial marginal cost. In JEC’s view, market-based measures will by then be a more effective and lower cost means of procuring (any amount of) system strength,” McCloskey added.
