Change is afoot in the Australian energy industry. New rules promise to revolutionise the way Australians buy energy, the Prime Minister has acknowledged we are moving towards ‘net zero’ emissions1, and self-generation is growing in popularity.
Evolution in the space isn’t driven solely by governments and consumers, however. From retailers, to news sites, to sales platforms, market actors from every corner of the industry are abuzz with exciting innovations. Here are just some of the developments shaping the Australian energy landscape as we know it.
Salesforce’s Customer Acquisition Management
A versatile tool to help utilities businesses convert new customers, Salesforce’s Customer Acquisition Management (CAM) is part of the CRM giant’s ‘Energy and Utilities Cloud’.
Competing with the likes of Octopus Energy’s Kraken platform, CAM promises to lower acquisition costs while providing a frictionless digital rate comparison and shopping experience. Real-time personalised quotes, simple processes, and automation integrations make it a win for both customers and retailers2.
As energy providers urgently prepare for the arrival of new customer switching rules, the system’s launch in Australia couldn’t have come at a more opportune moment.
Indigo Power’s Local Focus
The ‘power to the people’ philosophy is one that colours every aspect of regional energy provider Indigo Power.
Adopting a community-based approach to energy, Indigo facilitates resource sharing amongst a collection of towns in North East Victoria and Southern New South Wales. Participants can contribute to energy hubs through their own solar panels, while those without rooftop generation are able to rely on community-owned solar systems.
With 50% of the company’s profits committed to clean energy and local projects, they’re certainly willing to put their money where their mouth is3. Expect to see this user-focused model of storage and distribution flourish in the coming years.
Bombora’s mWave Technology
Western Australia-born mWave technology, developed by energy innovators Bombora, has been making some sizable, well, waves, both locally and overseas.
The system operates offshore, using waves to compress air through a series of rubber membranes below the ocean’s surface. This air is then passed through a one-way valve to a turbine, which spins to generate electricity. Air is recirculated to re-inflate each membrane, priming the system for the next cycle4.
It’s an impressively elegant solution, and one that has seen its creators expand from “a farm barn in Perth'' to a headquarters in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It’s there that they hope to garner the attention of major European nations through a partnership with infrastructure and engineering group TechnipFMC, who have devised a plan to combine mWave with wind generation on a 6MW hybrid floating platform5.
RenewEconomy’s Interactive Maps
An important part of the transition towards green energy is helping the public understand the innovations, challenges, and opportunities of the sector. In this respect, clean energy news and analysis site RenewEconomy has been very much leading the charge.
As part of a public interest series, the go-to for all things renewable recently released two interactive maps detailing Australia’s large scale wind and solar farms. Both feature operating projects of 10MW or above, as well as those that are in construction or have solidified contracts.
While similar maps can be found elsewhere, none are as detailed or comprehensive. It’s hoped that these will allow communities to better understand where their power comes from, and highlight the capabilities of existing and future plants6.
Social Energy’s Battery Orchestration
Recognising the importance it’s set to play in our nation’s power grid, Social Energy has fully embraced home power generation and storage. Combined with their game changing technology proposition, this means the relative newcomer to the Australian energy scene can offer something many of their cohorts can only dream of - a 100 percent reduction in power bills.
An advanced artificial intelligence platform and virtual power plant are to thank for Social’s ability to optimise battery storage and orchestration, though matters are certainly helped by their exclusive rights to supply the all new lithium-ion Duracell Energy Bank 2.
The feed-in tariff offered by Social Energy to customers who purchase and install solar panels and a battery can reach as high as 40c per kWh - a rate four times the average in NSW, South Australia, and Queensland. With value like this, it’s not hard to imagine the retailer soon becoming as successful down under as they’ve already been in the UK7.
Conclusion
The future of the energy industry is certainly a promising one, but that’s not to say it won’t be without its challenges. Energy retailers and distributors will need to adapt to this evolving landscape, and transform their software processes accordingly.
As energy industry experts, Transformable makes the process of technology modernisation as smooth and pain free as possible. We work with energy companies to update, integrate, and migrate the CRMs, billing systems and automations needed to become scalable.
Discover how you can begin your transformation here. We look forward to helping you take advantage of the latest technologies, to become Transformable.
References
2. Https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t24V-bZW2S8
3. https://indigopower.com.au/
5. https://reneweconomy.com.au/floating-wind-and-wave-power-project-to-use-australian-wave-technology/
7. https://utilitymagazine.com.au/social-energy-a-new-smart-energy-retailer-enters-the-game/