Course Day One : Monday 1 December

Module 1
Power systems fundamentals

  • Electricity networks and their main subsystems.
  • Historical developments and market deregulation.
  • Supply and demand issues
  • Electricity markets and regulatory bodies in Australia.
  • Key components of electricity grids and the way such grids are designed and managed.

Module 2
Introduction to Smart Grids

  • Smart grid concepts and definitions
  • Smart grid drivers
  • Smart grid benefits.
  • What is and what is not smart grid.
  • Smart grid opportunities and challenges.
  • Technology sectors required to deliver the smart grid.
  • Industrial standards and smart grid.

Module 3
Electricity Grids

  • Traditional grid structures – architecture and components.
  • Performance criteria for a grid – safety, technical and operational performance (voltage, quality of supply, law, regulation).
  • Meeting performance criteria for generators, transmission lines, planning criteria, and physical processes.
  • Performance constraints in load characteristics, dynamic and transient responses, transmission line effects, and non-physical (regulatory and planning).
  • Control mechanisms in frequency as the ‘glue’, grid stiffness, voltage regulation, system stabilization.
  • Transition to ‘smartness’ – historical context, influence of new and existing constraints.

Module 4
Power Market Economics

  • Electricity supply-chain economics; where do the various costs come from?
  • Designing wholesale electricity markets: what is better? Energy only, or capacity markets?
  • Role of prices as signals to the consumer.
  • Transmission economics and congestion pricing. What should we have? Regulated or entrepreneurial interconnectors.
  • Evolution of the Australian National Electricity Market. Some surprises and unexpected consequences.
  • Derivatives markets, and futures trading for hedging and risk management.
  • Carbon and renewable certificate markets. How does carbon really affect electricity prices?
  • Transmission expansion planning and its interaction with the new gas markets.

 

Register Now

Back to Top