The Research

The project was structured around three core case studies or work streams:

1. Australian smart grid policy and standards

2. Learning from major Australian smart grid projects 

3. Smart Grids in the State of Tasmania

Please refer to the separate webpages for more information on these case studies.

Through the three case studies, answers to the following questions were sought:

Policy problems & solutions: Do smart grids provide a solution to the multiple policy problems on the Australian utility infrastructure agenda? What sort of new intelligence (data, information and knowledge) is enabled by smart grids, and who does this benefit?

Discourse: What constitutes the political vision of Australian smart grids (i.e. what are its political drivers; what work does the term 'smart grids' do, and for whom)?

Experimentation and learning: How are smart grids being operationalised in Australia, and with what results? How have early experiments with smart grids affected subsequent policies, programmes and initiatives? What insights are provided by the early public acceptance or rejection of other related technologies (e.g. water meters)?

The geographies of innovation and learning: How is learning from experiments with smart grids being adapted to fit different contexts (including internationally, state-by-state within Australia, and in the context of other utilities (water, transport, gas))? For instance, how is Tasmania adapting the notion of smart grids (originally conceived of for large cities) to its more dispersed rural population? At an international scale, what information or knowledge sharing has been taking place between Australia and other leading smart grid countries, and with what effect?