TechNOW: The power flow tech revolutionising solar

Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering

Australia is one of the sunniest continents in the world, so it’s no surprise Australians have embraced solar energy to cut their power bills and slow down climate change. One in-five-homes now have rooftop solar panels. But all that extra energy being fed into the grid can be tricky to manage. Our infrastructure wasn’t built for electricity to move in two directions. It’s not impossible for electricity to flow backwards, but it must be managed or transformers can become saturated. Dr Elizabeth Ratnam and Associate Professor Lachlan Blackhall have come up with a revolutionary new way of better monitoring power flow through electricity grids. TechNOW is a podcast about Australian innovations that are shaping the future, thanks to the Global Connections fund – a project run by the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering and supported by the Australian Government.