Enhanced System Planning Project

Enhanced System Planning Project

At a glance

The Enhanced System Planning (ESP) project was a significant, collaborative research project aimed at informing electricity planning in Australia beyond 2030. Under the project, proven methodologies and approaches for bottom-up modelling were developed and opportunities for significant financial savings identified through the distribution system and integrating consumer and distributed energy resources (CER and DER) to inform whole-of-system planning. A Final Report outlines the ESP approach, findings and recommendations as well as a roadmap for implementation to achieve the benefits outlined.

• Final Report published June 2025
• $3.6M total cash investment
• 5 universities
• 11 partner organisations
• 15 research projects
• 23 detailed recommendations
• 100+ researcher, industry & government personnel 
• directly contributing.
• Findings include potential for $ billions in savings and an implementable roadmap that integrates with existing grid planning methodologies

The transformation facing Australia’s National Electricity Market (NEM) over the next 30 years is without precedent. Traditional approaches to electricity network planning are being challenged by increases in consumer and distributed energy resources (CER and DER), demand due to the electrification of residential energy use (including transport) and even the introduction of data centres. These challenges are further exacerbated by the shift from conventional to renewable energy generation. Major electricity network augmentation will be required to accommodate these changes.

The electricity distribution system is facing challenges but also holds solutions to these changing grid needs. While in the past, the distribution system could be thought of as simply a net load, it is now a critical priority to include this increasingly “active” electricity network in an updated, coordinated, whole of electricity system planning and operation approach to enable an efficient, cost-effective grid evolution.

The challenge is that there is currently no agreed methodological approach for incorporating bottom-up electricity distribution system considerations into an integrated, sector-wide framework for system planning and operation.

What is Enhanced System Planning?

C4NET’s Enhanced System Planning (ESP) project is a major research undertaking that provides proven methodologies, models, and a roadmap to inform electricity planning below transmission level beyond 2030.

Over a two-year period, C4NET brought together over 100 university, industry, and government personnel to deliver 15 research projects that involved sophisticated electricity distribution network simulations and techno-economic modelling using distribution network data in a unique collaboration to update infrastructure utilisation modelling. The Victorian Government Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) and AEMO also participated to ensure that system planning, policy and regulation are informed by project outcomes, and vice versa.

What we found

The approach outlined in the ESP Final Report builds practical foundations for cost-effective, integrated, coordinated, system-wide energy planning across the NEM. It enables better system coordination and policy alignment, reducing duplication and delays, and informs more timely, cost-effective infrastructure investment and a reduction of total energy system costs for consumer benefit. 

The ESP approach was shown to result in:

• Lower costs for all users – co-optimisation of planning and operation of integrated transmission and distribution systems.
• Reduced transmission investment – directional savings of over 25% on transmission expansion through the connection of solar and wind generation combined with storage in the high voltage (sub-transmission) part of the distribution network, representing multi-billion dollar savings if valid across the NEM more broadly.
• A more efficient transformation pathway – harnessing CER/DER flexibility at all network levels to lower the infrastructure investment costs, reduce uncertainty and utilise existing capacity for faster renewable adoption
• A means to adopt – the ESP project has addressed many of the methodological gaps in national adoption and is designed to complement the ISP’s current evolution as outlined by the ECMC ISP review actions.

These findings, along with other insights, are detailed in the ESP Final Report.

Next steps

The research outcomes showed that distribution system considerations are critical for whole of system planning and must be integrated as a priority to avoid over-investment in the energy system: the process and regulatory changes to support this evolution should start now. 

To support this, the ESP Final Report contains:

• A roadmap for the implementation the ESP approach to integrated whole-of-system planning that follows a bottom-up, physics-based, techno-economic approach. 
• The policy development, operational and regulatory reforms required to make the approach effective. 
• A total of 23 recommendations for AEMO, DNSPs, policy-makers and regulatory bodies to support the ESP’s implementation.

ESP report structure

The Project Reports tab provides a suite of downloadable documents including C4NET’s ESP Final Report, Summary Reports, Research Reports and Literature Review for each work program, select data and models, assumptions books and a Q and A (question and answer) document.

Project Partners

The ESP project was generously supported by the project partners listed below.

Project Partners: C4NET