Reactive Technologies secured $1.43 million Australian dollars (about 959,000 USD) from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) for a trial project to provide real-time, accurate grid inertia measurements.
The Victoria State Government Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Action (DEECA) also provided funds for the project.
Reactive secured the funding through ARENA’s Advancing Renewables Program, which supports projects that optimize the transition to renewable energy. The trial will be deployed with the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) and supported by DEECA, Melbourne Energy Institute (University of Melbourne), and Neoen.
The trial will operate over a range of conditions including high solar, high wind, and high demand periods across Victoria. Neoen’s Victorian Big Battery, a utility-scale energy storage installation, will send a small signal into the grid that Reactive’s Extensible Measurement Units (XMUs) will measure.
Following the XMUs’ measurement of the signal, Reactive’s patented GridMetrix software will analyze the data and allow AEMO to view inertia values in real time on the GridMetrix dashboard.
With two-thirds of its coal power stations expected to close by 2040, accurate grid inertia measurements will be crucial to enabling more renewables to connect to Australia’s grid. Grid inertia – the ability of generators to maintain a steady power supply in the face of disruptions – becomes harder to track and measure with legacy tools as more renewable generators are added to a grid. To meet this challenge on grids around the world, Reactive’s GridMetrix tool provides new levels of visibility into grid functions, replacing estimates and modeling of inertia and enabling operators to predict and plan for guaranteed sources of inertia to keep the power grid stable.
Reactive Technologies was founded in Finland and the UK and has deployed its technology in the UK, Japan, Italy, and New Zealand. The company expanded to North America in 2022, offering the most accurate measurements of inertia and other grid functions and helping to curb climate change with tools that allow for the maintenance of grid reliability while adding renewables. Reactive gives utilities and grid operators critical intel for maintaining resilience as they add renewables and DERs, and will continue its global expansion as more countries move to accelerate the transition to a zero-carbon power grid.
