A key part of Energy Masters is the research households are participating in, that aims to demonstrate a simple, reliable and cost-effective way for all South Australians to become masters of their energy use.
Overseen by the RACE for 2030 Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) and led by researchers from Adelaide University, the Collaboration on Energy and Environmental Markets (CEEM) at UNSW and the Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF) at University of Technology Sydney, the research is focused on understanding the implications and opportunities presented by flexible demand and home energy management systems (HEMS).
To date, a number of reports have been published with more on the way.
For more information on the research streams and to access the published reports, visit the Energy Masters page on the RACE for 2030 CRC website.
Research streams
The research for Energy Masters is divided into 6 streams:
Focus: Quantify how household-level flexible demand technologies affect the electricity network.
Measure the network impacts of new loads and how flexible demand can reduce or shift energy use.
Compare the cost-effectiveness of using demand flexibility versus upgrading network infrastructure.
Identify which technologies and customer behaviours offer the greatest value to the grid.
Focus: Understand how households experience, adopt, and interact with flexible energy technologies.
Explore motivations, barriers, and satisfaction with smart appliances and HEMS.
Examine how social, financial, and practical factors affect decisions to electrify and engage with flexible demand.
Investigate how household behaviour and understanding evolve over time, and how communication design influences uptake.
Focus: Evaluate system wide and household level outcomes from adopting flexible demand technologies.
Identify potential savings and avoided network costs by shifting demand.
Assesses alignment between household behaviour and desired grid outcomes.
Investigate real-world challenges and opportunities for orchestrating flexible loads at scale.
Focus: Defines changes to governance frameworks required to support flexible energy systems.
Identify policy, regulatory, and standards barriers to widespread adoption.
Recommend changes to ensure customer protections and fairness.
Support development of consistent national rules and technical requirements for flexible demand.
Focus: Evaluate supply chains, workforce, & business models for scaling flexible demand technologies.
Assesses availability and cost of technology, and barriers in logistics or delivery.
Identify skills gaps, training needs, and roles for tradespeople in informing customers.
Evaluate what industry changes are needed to efficiently scale flexible demand technologies.
Focus: Inform broader industry, government, and community stakeholders with insights from the pilot.
Extensive knowledge sharing with industry is expected to support the widespread adoption of demand flexibility and HEMS, empowering households to shift their energy use to times when energy is cheaper and cleaner in ways that work for them and benefit many.
