Systems thinking for innovation in the Australian energy sector
The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has a mission to design and operate a sustainable energy system. However, the Australian energy system is complex, shaped by the conflicting needs and actions of consumers, government, organisations, the economy, the energy market and forces within the system itself.
I led a project at Paper Giant to help AEMO navigate this complex system, and recommend initiatives to ensure the consumer energy data system supports emerging markets and services.
Project team: Reuben Stanton, Priyanka Kaul, Hope Lumsden-Barry, Dan Woods
Client: AEMO
The need for resilience
A sustainable energy system is adaptive, it supports emerging markets and services, and it provides affordable, safe and reliable energy for all Australians.
By using systems mapping to make sense of the complex consumer energy data system, Paper Giant was able to facilitate the co-design of AEMO’s short- and near-term strategies that ensure the Australian consumer energy data system remains stable, and continues to support emerging and existing businesses well into the future.
We conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews, and system mapping workshops with a large variety of energy startups, advocacy groups, data service providers, retailers and energy regulatory bodies. We worked with different emerging and existing businesses and industry bodies to collate a list of challenges faced by businesses while setting up, designing, testing and delivering new products and services.
Using the information gathered from these co-design workshops, Paper Giant was able to identify forces, barriers and system loops that reinforce negative or positive effects on consumer energy data innovation.
AEMO continued to share, iterate and validate the system forces, loops and barriers with different industry participants, advocacy groups and legislative bodies to ensure their validity and accuracy through each project phase.
The process of discussion, visualisation, iteration and validation with businesses and consumer advocates who are operating in this system was so crucial in developing AEMO’s understanding of the system forces. The more we uncovered and iterated the clearer it became on what tangible steps AEMO could take to contribute to positive system outcomes for energy consumers and their chosen agents. It placed us in a position to confidently move into the future with a goal and plan to achieve positive outcomes for our customers and the CDR in Energy reform.
Partaking in the development of the system map was almost as rewarding as the outcomes for creating positive effects.
— AEMO stakeholder
Systems thinking for engagement and trust
After each consultation and iteration of the system map, industry participants reported greater agreement with the map and increasingly used it as a tool to discuss the type and implications of barriers to consumer energy data innovation.
The systems map led to new relationships among participants, and conversations sprung up as people made new observations about the system and became interested in the gaps.
As a result, AEMO developed a clearer understanding of how they could advocate on behalf of the industry regarding the Consumer Data Right Framework for Energy to contribute to supporting innovation and change throughout the reform.
Engaging early with diverse businesses and consumer representatives enabled us to better consider the challenges they face with the consumer energy data system, leading to informed decision making around potential design opportunities for safely and securely enabling the sharing of consumer energy data with participating CDR businesses.
— AEMO stakeholder
Practical actions to reinforce ongoing positive system outcomes
Using our understanding of system forces and barriers, we were able to recommend a set of actions for AEMO that would create positive flow-on effects in the consumer energy data system. Each action was designed to clear the system of a particular set of negative system effects.
Paper Giant helped AEMO make each action tangible by co-designing a set of success measures, benefits, risks and next steps for AEMO to consider when implementing.
AEMO hopes to continue to share, iterate and validate the energy data system map with different industry participants, advocacy groups and legislative bodies to further understand their influence in the system and how to stimulate innovation in the long-term.