Martina Calais

By engaging with practice, engineering students develop capabilities, self-efficacy, motivation, and professional identity, among other outcomes. Many students engage with practice by completing work experience, also known as a practicum. However, availability and quality of practicums vary. Engineers Australia leads a working group of senior engineers, university staff and students to improve the availability and quality of students’ engagement with practice. To understand students’ recent experiences, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, we surveyed stakeholders.

Variable distributed energy resources (DERs) such as solar and wind are rapidly becoming common in low-inertia microgrids (MGs) worldwide as the world explores cost-efficient and sustainable energy solutions. Additionally, the urgent need for greenhouse gas emission reductions and the availability of vast renewable energy resources serve as motivations to harvest these renewabies. Solar photovoltaic (PV) technology is one of the most utilised due to the significant drop in prices for solar PV systems. However, the variable nature of solar PV generation due to cloud movements introduces rapid ramp events thus affecting power system management. Nowcasting, which is defined as very short-term solar irradiance forecasting, together with controllable DERs, can be integrated into MGs to possibly address these ramp events and enable an increase in PV penetration levels in MGs. This study outlines the benefits and limitations of nowcasting and its applications in the control of MGs obtained from a survey. From the survey, it was evident that sky camera-based nowcasting technology is still new but has potential in MG applications. Applications of nowcasting in MGs included ramp rates control and scheduling of spinning reserves. Additionally, PV penetration levels may be increased if nowcasting tools are incorporated into the control of MGs. However, the main barrier impeding the utilisation of sky camera-based nowcasting technology is the lack of experience and lack of demonstrated reliability.

Photovoltaic (PV) hosting capacity determination for power systems often entails power network simulation work that is onerous due to the typically large number of medium voltage (MV)/low voltage (LV) feeders, even for small isolated diesel networks. Dividing the power system into several parts has proven itself useful as a means of simulating the system as a whole. The availability of consistent data containing important attributes (e.g., network configuration, load and customer data) for each feeder and identifying the relevant attributes is crucial in clustering. These attributes form the input, on which the clustering is performed. This paper presents the observation of clustering a unique remote network in Western Australia in which PV penetration has been significantly increased over the last decade. K-means clustering methodology is utilised in this work to assign the feeders into different groups. Thirteen different attributes for each feeder were available as a basis for the clustering. This paper also identified the suitable representative feeders for each cluster, which can be used for system-wide simulation work.

Deployment of distributed energy resources (DER) has rapidly increased during the last few years. The uptake of renewable energy and especially photovoltaic (PV) systems is of interest to utilities of remote and rural areas where the use of conventional power generation is costly. Investigating the effects of cloud movements on the power system of such areas at different PV penetrations is a relevant research topic. This paper reports on the data acquisition system deployed in a remote town in Western Australia and presents some of the findings and observations extracted from the captured real data. It then highlights the maximum PV output variations to identify the worst-case scenarios that should be considered when determining the maximum PV hosting capacity in that area. The studies show that inverter trip events have led to larger PV output variations in shorter intervals while the cloud movements have contributed to variations in longer intervals.

The replacement of conventionally fueled passenger cars by electric vehicles (EVs) has long been expected across the world as developed nations move away from fossil fuels and towards energy use that is cleaner, cheaper and renewable. However, where some nations have shown a clear path towards rising EV uptake during the past decade, Australia has steadfastly refused to follow: EV uptake has been extremely limited, while established patterns of liquid fuel consumption have continued unabated. The potential virtues of EV adoption have been extolled from all the usual perspectives: environmental benefits have been measured, low economic running costs have been highlighted, and even improved levels of energy security have been indicated. But these arguments to encourage EV uptake have failed to gain any traction sufficient to replace the status quo of a national road transport system that has grown to rely on a diet of imported conventional liquid fuels. A recent survey of industry, research and government operatives by Murdoch University researchers probed public awareness of the complex issues surrounding transport fuel economics and the reasons for consumer reluctance to change to EVs. The main aim of this paper is to use information from the survey as evidence to support the theory that the path to improving EV uptake in Australia will continue to fail unless EVs become available under a certain set of conditions, or possibly until it happens by default when The Fourth Wave arrives.

Solar Home Systems can supply basic electricity services in Sunbelt countries. About 20 % of the world's population lack of access to these services. A preliminary model to evaluate the success of a SHS implementation has been proposed previously. The views of a range of institutional stakeholders related to SHS were explored by problem centered interviews and by participatory observation. An improved model of success is developed which is capable of providing a quantitative measure of success for SHS implementations. Five groups of key stakeholders have been determined. The most important self-set goals for the institutional stakeholders are profit, quality and social benefit. The most important success factors that encourage the achievement of self-set goals were retrieved and are discussed. Measuring the level of achievement of the defined self-set goals is the largest challenge in this process. The refined model of success demonstrates the complexity of measuring the success of Solar Home System implementations. The next phase of the research is to survey the Users' views on the SHS's success.

Solar Photovoltaic (PV) system installations are enjoying a continued and remarkable growth in Australia. Currently there are over a million PV systems installed in the country with an installed capacity of over 3.5GW, the majority of which are small grid-connected rooftop systems of less than 10kW capacity. Australian conditions can be very harsh, contributing to early equipment failure rates, while installation of small systems can be suboptimal,and often without monitoring. Documentation of faults with PV products and installations in Australia is limited and there is little publically available information in regards to the types of problems that occur, where and why they occur, how frequently and if they are an ongoing issue. The reliability of PV systems is a strong determinant of cost effectiveness, and critical to continued investor confidence. A ‘PV Module and System Fault Reporting Portal’ (PVFRP) has been developed to increase the understanding of the PV industry and other stakeholders about the types of problems that are found with different system components in the Australian environment. The PVFRP contains a survey to collect data from owners, operators, installers and inspectors of PV system who have detected a fault/problem with whole or part of a system. Analysis and dissemination of the Portal data will help to improve future PV system design, component selection, product development and product approvals for Australian conditions. The survey is available at: www.surveymonkey.com/s/pvwebportal. This paper presents the initial findings of the survey after five months of operation. The number of responses received thus far is not large enough to reach to any substantive conclusions, however, they are in agreement with the research outputs achieved elsewhere. This information will help the industry address the challenges that PV systems, components and related service delivery are facing in Australia. The information presented here will be updated as more data become available and will be published on a regular basis.

This paper proposes a framework for assessing the degree of success of Solar Home Systems (SHSs) including a consideration of the key factors that contribute to success. In future work feedback from relevant institutions will be incorporated in the process of developing the success framework and the relative importance of the various factors and barriers influencing the SHS's success. It is proposed to develop a weighting system for these factors that can influence the success of SHS's installations

Solar Home Systems (SHS), consisting of a PV-generator, a battery charge controller and a battery, are considered an option to supply basic electricity dependent energy services to rural households in un-electrified regions of sunbelt countries. In some countries, e.g. Bangladesh, SHSs are considered to be successful. In other countries the introduction and implementation of SHSs seems to have failed. Success of Solar Home Systems is related to multiple dimensions such as the user, the socioeconomic status of the implementation region, ecological impact and social benefit. The paper outlines a methodology for researching SHS’s success. It proposes a conceptualized model for success of SHSs. Within this framework success is based on sub-dimensions. The sub-dimensions of success are related to SHS’s stakeholders and are dependent on a range of success factors. Indicators and parameters that can be quantified to measure success are presented.

Solar Home Systems (SHSs) are considered an option to supply the basic electricity dependent energy ser-vices to dispersed rural households in unelectrified regions of world’s Sun Belt. Recent experiences in China, India and Bangladesh have consolidated the view that for many applications solar PV is the least cost and the most environmentally preferred option for increasing access to electricity for rural households and small enterprises in these rural and remote areas. In some countries (e.g. Bangladesh) SHSs are considered to be successful but that is not the case in other places. There is a need to determine the success of SHSs and to find out what factors influence this success. The objective of this research is to determine the stakeholders understanding on success of SHSs, success factors and the barriers impacting on the success, the indicators of success and how we can quantify the success. To address the research objectives a desktop study is carried out to identify successful and failure programs. Based on this desktop research SHS’s stakeholders will be interviewed on their views on success of the pro-grams. This paper proposes a framework for assessing the degree of success of SHSs including a consideration of the key factors that contribute to success. In future work feedback from relevant institutions will be incorpo-rated in the process of developing the success framework and the relative importance of the various factors and barriers influencing the SHS’s success. It is proposed to develop a weighting system for these factors that can influence the success of SHS’s installations.