December 2022 Update
This past year saw our industry - and country - facing an energy crisis, with wholesale prices going through the roof due in part to the conflict in Ukraine. Even more importantly, 2022 was a year where many of us were able to see and feel the impacts of a warming world, with unprecedented, catastrophic flooding occurring across many parts of the country due to back-to-back La Nina events.
At a time when more and more nations are revisiting their energy policies and strategies to bolster both energy independence and climate mitigation, we are confident and proud to support Australia in leveraging its enormous distributed energy potential to accelerate the energy transition.
2022 has made it clearer than ever that software will be crucial in the future of our energy infrastructure, and we are helping to make that possible. Between 1 January and 20 December 2022,?Stormcloud?processed over 360 billion data points from tens of thousands of devices around the world.
This data has real-world impacts. We've helped to more than double output from solar systems under Flexible Exports in South Australia and Victoria, and are already enabling similar results for Project Symphony in Western Australia, Future Grid's Solar Connect VPP in Alice Springs and regional microgrids New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia.
Meanwhile, our technology continues to power two of Australia's largest and most diverse virtual power plants on the NEM with Origin Energy and Simply Energy, among others.
It was fantastic to round out 2022 on a high, with our team having grown by another twenty people in the last two months, significantly expanding our engineering, product, and sales capabilities. We started the year with a team of about forty, and we're finishing it with over seventy.?
This growth is a key step towards realising our vision and fulfilling our mission, enabling us to put more power into the hands of energy companies and their customers, to deliver a cleaner, more distributed and more efficient energy system for everyone.
As the year draws to a close, the SwitchDin team would like to thank our customers, partners and fans for all their support in what has been a big year for us. We are looking forward to your continued support and collaboration in 2023 - and be sure to keep an ear out for some big developments in the new year.
In this newsletter:?
SwitchDin 2022 highlights
Here are some of the key events and milestones from SwitchDin's last twelve months:
December news & updates
Interoperability is key to a free, fair DER future
Imagine if you had to use the internet - and get permission from Apple - to connect your iPhone to your headphones.
?Of course, that’s not the way it works. You usually have at least one option for connecting them directly to each other. Bluetooth is the easiest example, but depending on who makes your phone, you might even be able to use a classic 3.5mm headphone jack.
?The point is, you don’t need to rely on the internet at all to use your headphones with your phone - never mind getting permission from your phone’s manufacturer. In fact, people would be justifiably angry if this were the case, and would almost certainly be taking the matter to the ACCC.
?The same goes for distributed energy, which is why we have argued for open, device-level communications standards in our recent submission to the Energy Security Board (ESB) ’s “Post 2025 DER Implementation Plan - interoperability policy framework”.
Our full thoughts on the issue are available in our ESB submission here.
Distributed energy will play a key role in Renewable Energy Zones. Here’s how.
With the continued stream of announcements around the early closure of coal-fired power plants across Australia, Renewable Energy Zones (REZs) are a key way forward as coal makes its exit.
?To date, there are 41 potential REZs flagged for potential development, each undergoing different phases of planning and consultation.
?According to a recent EnergyCo event, New South Wales has less than 15 years to replace its fossil fuel generation, driving home the urgency of the REZ rollout.
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?It seems that the industry is up to the challenge, and the support for REZs has been strong.?Expressions of interest have already yielded overwhelming and positive responses from the industry in the form of project proposals.
?REZs are fast becoming the ‘modern-day power station’. They promise to replace fossil-fuel generation with large-scale solar, wind farms and grid-scale storage combined with high-voltage transmission infrastructure to serve local regions and provide affordable and reliable clean energy to communities.
?As they begin to come online, REZs will put the energy transition into hyperdrive.
This article takes a further look at what REZ means for you.
SwitchDin at Climate Tech Fest 2022
SwitchDin was proud to support Climate Salad 's second annual Climate Tech Fest as a sponsor and to represent our company and technology to the rest of this amazing community while being part of the bigger climate conversation.
?SwitchDin COO, Marc Sheldon represented us on the Launching In The USA panel, speaking about SwitchDin's expansion ambitions. He highlighted that Australia has an ‘unfair advantage’, with the highest penetration of rooftop solar in the world - and therefore dealing with challenges that will soon impact markets all over the world.?As for the US market, the challenge is around finding partners who are facing problems that do need solutions today where our technology has an overlap.
?One of the last events of the day was the Pitch Extravaganza, which featured 50 rapid, 30-second pitches from a wide range of climate tech companies covering everything from energy to waste to bug protein. SwitchDin’s own marketing intern Tess Sweeney - who has been with the company for less than eight weeks - delivered a flawless pitch to the crowd of several hundred people.
See our wrap-up of the 2022 Climate Tech Fest here.
December Tech Updates
Droplet:
Stormcloud:
Stormcloud IQ:
Integration updates:
Learn more about our tech updates here.
SwitchDin hours of operation during the holiday break
Other than public holidays, the SwitchDin office and phones will remain open during the holidays. Please note, however, that a number of team members are on annual leave over this period.
Kind regards,
The SwitchDin Team