Horizon Power

A Case Study on Integrating Customer DER

Moving the Needle on Utility DERMS Innovation in Australia

Recent power outages, wholesale and retail price spikes, and some of the highest penetrations of distributed solar PV in the world have prompted Australia to become a focal point of innovation, analysis, and lessons learned. This is especially true in  Western Australia where a nationalized, vertically integrated utility, Horizon Power,  deployed a novel application of a distributed energy resources management system (DERMS) to enable greater renewables integration across its utility territory.

This Guidehouse Insights white paper chronicles the network, technology, and customer stories as Horizon Power takes a leading-edge technology position on DERMS.

This deployment has already led to several notable achievements:

• A three-fold increase in a renewable hosting capacity
• Reduced DER communication bandwidth traffic usage by 75%, resulting in direct ongoing cost savings
• The 11 MW microgrid is expected to reduce natural gas consumption by over 55,000 GJ, lowering costs across its entire network while also eliminating 3,000 metric tons of CO2annually