Sixteen Murdoch Engineering students had the opportunity to present their ideas for transforming the State’s electricity industry to representatives from business and government at a recent competition.
Hosted by the Electric Energy Society of Australia (EESA) and Engineers Australia (EA), each student was required to present their innovative concept in poster form to energy industry stakeholders that included representatives from Horizon Power and Woodside.
Engineering student Javid Maleki designed his poster on the possibility of trading energy among households and the effects of this new market on consumers.
“My presentation on the impact of peer-to-peer market on the energy costs of consumers with solar panels and batteries and explored the possibility of trading energy among these households,” he said.
"I’m looking into how this would work as a market platform, and the effect of this on the total costs of the energy systems, so this event was a great opportunity to present my work and see if this topic is of interest to industry and academic members.”
Student Jinping Zhao (pictured), whose poster provided an overview of congestion management, said she hoped her research would bring optimal benefits for both consumers and power utilities.
“My research topic is to find an optimal algorithm for congestion management in the distribution network, bringing into consideration the market environment,” she said.
“Not only is there potential to solve the congestion issue with the distributed power system, it could also provide a solution for the reliability and stability violation issue caused by the high penetration of distribution generations. The power industry could save on its investment and would become more transparent.”
Ms Zhao said one power company was particularly interested in her research topic and she received valuable feedback from numerous energy representatives in attendance.
Image: Dr Ali Arefi (left) and competition Chair Mr Russell Ellen (right)
Dr Ali Arefi, Senior Lecturer in Electrical Engineering at Murdoch University, and member of the event’s organising committee, said he was proud of the significant contribution made by Murdoch students, who accounted for 16 out of a total of 36 participants from five universities in the competition.
“The event is a great opportunity for visitors to see the excellent quality of work carried out by the student engineers, and I was proud to see Murdoch University so well represented,” Dr Arefi said.
"These opportunities to engage in informal conversations with industry can eventually lead to mutually-beneficial enterprises, including potential employment; further research leading to potential patents; and at the very least is a wonderful networking opportunity.”