Doorstop interview at Eastern Creek

ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENERGY, SENATOR JENNY McALLISTER: Welcome everybody, and thanks for being here to kick off this extremely exciting new project. Really grateful to Transgrid for hosting us this morning, and also great to be here with ARENA and Infravision. My name’s Jenny McAllister. I’m the Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy. Look, there is no transition without transmission. It’s why improving Australia’s transmission lines is a core part of our Rewiring the Nation project and a core part of our agenda for Australia’s energy system. We know that we have to build more transmission lines, but we also have to make the best of what we have. We have so many opportunities to do this, particularly using smart technology and smart infrastructure. And that’s what today is all about. We’ve got a very exciting new technology being trialled right here with Transgrid. And I’m very pleased to be here to announce ARENA’s support for this project. I’ll leave it to the experts to explain exactly how it works, but it is essentially an approach which combines drone technology with sensor technology to let us make the most of our existing transmission lines. It’s going to mean that we can put more energy through our energy system, making the most of the renewables that are installed and the renewables that are yet to come. It will mean a lower emissions grid. It will also mean lower prices for consumers. It is a win-win for everybody, and we have the opportunity through the partnership that’s being announced today to trial this technology and really learn the lessons, see how it works, see how the business model works and see what improvements we can deliver for our energy system. I’m delighted to be here. I’m looking forward to seeing the technology trialled. And I might hand over now, though, to Darren from ARENA to say a few words about ARENA’s involvement in the project.

AUSTRALIAN RENEWABLE ENERGY AGENCY (ARENA) CEO, DARREN MILLER: Thank you, Senator McAllister. I’d like to acknowledge we’re on Dharug country and pay my respects to elders past and present and thank everybody involved for their efforts in this project and for what’s yet to come. This is an incredible innovation, an Aussie innovation. I’d like to thank Marie Jordan from Transgrid and Danny and Adam from Infravision for inspiring this technology and bringing it to life. And ARENA is delighted to support this project, a $1.8 million project with $740,000 of Australian Federal Government money which we’re bringing to the table to see this world-first innovation put into the Australian – onto the Australian grid. There’s two really important things about this project. One is it’s about transmission. We’ve heard from Senator McAllister how important transmission is to the transition. We know we have to add a huge amount of new transmission, but we also need to get the most out of what we’ve got. Technologies like this which allow us to run the transmission system safely and more effectively with more energy through it are very important. And the second really crucial aspect is support for an Australian start up. ARENA thinks it’s fundamental to support innovators like Infravision, and we’ve done so throughout our 10 year life. In fact, of our almost $2 billion of investment that we’ve made, over $250 million of that have gone to Australian start-ups. And it’s the entrepreneurial spirit from innovators like Infravision which are going to be crucial to the success of this industry going forward. We need all hands on deck, and we’ve got a fantastic team here at Infravision and great support from a big company like Transgrid to make this happen. So thank you everybody involved, and particularly as well to my ARENA team who have worked hard to bring this project to life in collaboration with Infravision and Transgrid. Thank you.

TRANSGRID EXECUTIVE GENERAL MANAGER OF NETWORKS, MARIE JORDAN: I’d also like to thank ARENA and Minister McAllister for coming out here. Anyway, I would really like to acknowledge how important it is as we’re making this transition and we’re doing it with a lot of transmission, but when we’re doing this we are looking at how do we get the most out of the infrastructure we have during this transition. This technology measures small changes on the electric system that allows us to ensure we don’t curtail renewables, to allow more renewables to transfer on lines that typically did not carry this type of load before. So it’s innovative. We’ve had a long partnership with Infravision. Infravision has done other work with us. This is just yet another step of what they’re offering to us to help maximise the use of our facilities. So, thank you very much.

INFRAVISION DIRECTOR OF ENGINEERING, DANNY VAN DER BERG: Thank you to everyone for your kind words and the support for Infravision. I would once again just like to reflect on the fact that the team that have been behind the technology is the core to what we’ve done in Australia. And, once again, supporting Australian technology development with the support of Australian organisations like Transgrid with ARENA, none of this would have been possible. And I’d like to point out that the team are extremely excited about the opportunity to continue to develop not only in this area, but there are number of other areas where we’ll continue to look for opportunity to unlock the capacity within the grid and continue to move towards a carbon-free environment, which is critical for us and in our nation, and likewise for the world. So I’d just like to say once again thank you very much for the support. Thank you to my team. Thank you to the Transgrid leadership team for continuing to support the product. And we look forward to sharing the results with you in, I’d say six months’ time, where we’ll definitely be heading towards a very successful outcome for what we’ve developed. So thank you again.

McALLISTER: Thanks.