Enel to start selling electricity directly to consumers in Australia

To give a boost to its plans to offer its unique ‘green reseller’ product to Australia, Italian energy giant Enel Group has obtained an energy retail license from the Australian Energy Regulator ( AER). As part of its offering, Enel combines renewable energies from virtual power plants with EV charging options for its customers.

Enel’s entry into the green electricity retail business in Australia is expected to shake up the Australian market as it targets the mass market. The timing of entry also makes it interesting as renewable heavyweight Enel is entering energy retailing at a time when large traditional suppliers such as AGL Energy are grappling with the entry of global giant Shell into the energy retail sector. electricity retail, not to mention the domestic telephone operator Telstra. also planning an aggressive movement in their territory. Readers will recall that some of the world’s biggest oil majors like Shell and bp have adopted a strategy of renewable energy generation, for example, manufacturing equipment for the sector, as Reliance has done.

Enel’s strategy will build on the group’s international track record in retail, with its well-established green credentials globally, helping to differentiate its offerings.

The Group operates South Australia’s largest solar farm, the Bungala facility near Port Augusta, and is putting the finishing touches on the Cohuna solar farm in Victoria, and has plans for at least another gigawatt of wind, solar and battery storage facilities across the country.

These are exciting times for the Australian energy market. According to Australian energy regulators (ARE) lighthouse State of the energy market report from July 2021, which shares an overview of our energy markets, the pressure on electricity prices has already started to ease in 2020 as wholesale price cuts have started to ease. pass on to consumers.

The report points out that prices fell significantly in all regions in 2020, falling by around 23% to 58% from 2019 averages. The report attributes this to the growth of renewables. A record investment in rooftop solar power has been made, with nearly 2,500 MW of new capacity installed in National Electricity Markets (NEM) in 2020.

In 2020, more than 3,700 megawatts (MW) of large-scale solar and wind generation capacity entered the NEM, primarily in New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria. This new entry has resulted in record levels of wind and solar generation in 2020, accounting for more than 19% of total electricity production. Wind production exceeded gas production for the first time.

The regulators report says the country’s energy system is constantly adapting as it moves from a centralized system of large-scale coal and gas production to a mix of smaller-scale wind and solar generators and widely dispersed, and battery storage.

Over the next two decades in Australia, 16 gigawatts (GW) of thermal generation (61% of the current NEM coal fleet) is expected to disappear. During the same period, 26-50 GW of new large-scale wind and solar capacity are expected to be commissioned, along with 13-24 GW of rooftop solar PV capacity.

Australia’s energy storage is also expanding, thanks to the scale of the grid and domestic batteries, and a pumped-down hydrogenation plant. Although still in their infancy, technologies such as hydrogen and electric vehicles (EVs) are expected to impact both electricity supply and demand.

According to MarketsandMarkets Analysis estimates, the global energy and utilities analysis market size is expected to grow from $ 2.0 billion in 2020 to $ 4.3 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 16 , 3% over the forecast period. With the world’s largest economy increasingly drawn to going green, Australia is no exception as it strives to create an enabling environment for green energy.

The Enel offer will allow its customers to “decarbonize, digitize and electrify their energy consumption”, thus enabling them to generate significant income by supporting the fluctuating energy needs of the network.

Enel, which has more than 70 million retail customers worldwide, operates more than 51 GW of renewable energy capacity worldwide – a combination of wind, solar, hydro and geothermal power in more than 30 countries.

Enel will also rely on its subsidiary Enel X, which has already built a 350 MW “virtual power plant” across the country that combines rooftop solar resources, on-site battery storage systems and recharging solutions. of electric vehicles.

Globally, the prioritization of power generation planning, the need for accurate forecasting, and the adoption of smart meters are expected to drive the growth of the energy and utilities analysis market. In addition, the increasing investments in smart grid infrastructure utilizing advanced technologies and the increasing digital transformation with the adoption of various digital technologies including drones and wearable devices are expected to provide opportunities for the market growth of energy and utility analysis.