Google and CSIRO have come together to collaborate with X (not Twitter, another X), on a new project called Tapestry, to upgrade Australia’s shift to renewables.
Tapestry is a new approach to inverters used for renewables. Inverters are an essential part of any energy source, converting DC into AC, but Google and X reckon that the technology has been previously underutilised for risks of blackouts and fires. Instead, less efficient things like generators would be used.
Tapestry is designed to stabilise the energy grid, by using a bunch of tools for managing power at scale. It’s based on designs from an electric car, per Renew Economy, with stronger materials used than what are typically found in typical inverters, and an array of sensors to allow it to communicate with different energy sources, such as grid-scale solar and home solar.
The basic idea: if X’s Tapestry inverter project can be pulled off efficiently, then it could lead to more solar, wind, and hydropower being pumped into Australia’s grid. Early tests were supposedly promising, with the prototype able to communicate information to physical inverters.
The inverters are in the prototyping phase right now, with the Tapestry team testing them out in Newcastle, just north of Sydney, thanks to help from the CSIRO and funding from Google Australia’s Digital Future Initiative. CSIRO and Google love a team up.
“Advanced inverters will play a fundamental role as the world transitions to clean energy,” Tapestry’s chief scientist and inverter expert Doctor Leo Casey said. “They can help us build a big, stable grid using renewables.”
The team claims their inverters could be 50 per cent more cost-effective to produce, without a drop in conversion efficiency, while also coordinating energy flow across a grid.
“We’re sitting on a goldmine of renewable energy,” CSIRO’s smart energy lead Dr Stephen Craig said. “Yet much of it is unused due to our inability to harness it effectively.”
The team is hoping to showcase research findings in July. The next phase of their testing is to deploy prototype inverters in the field with trusted partners.
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