Roger Dargaville

Dr Roger Dargaville works on energy system integration, understanding the optimal combination of different technologies to achieve a low carbon, affordable and reliable electricity system.  A key component of this is taking into account the variability in the weather and how if affects the output of technologies such as wind turbines and solar photovoltaic cells as well as electricity demand.  This is a complex relationship, varying in time and space.  The weather varies on very short time scales, while energy investment decisions (i.e. installing rooftop PV or building a concentrating solar thermal power station) occur on much longer (years to decades) timescales.  Combining these elements is the key challenge he addresses.

Another key component of energy systems is energy storage.  Roger works on existing and emerging storage technologies (lithium ion batteries, conventional pumped hydro energy storage, as well as seawater pumped hydro and liquid air energy storage) to find the best ways to integrate variable renewable energy into the grid.  Also, finding the optimal transmission network to link together the renewable resources (which are often in remote locations) with the load centres presents another challenge. 

More recently Roger is looking at the issue on energy access in developing countries, in the nexus of technology and social impact, working with social scientists at Monash to establish the best ways to meet the millennium development goals.