The Russ Christ Effect

Have you heard of the Russ Christ effect? Now’s your chance to hear all about it from the horse’s mouth. Meet our forward-thinking Distribution Planning Manager, Russ Christ, who is based in beautiful Hervey Bay - one of Queensland’s solar PV hotspots.

Russ, we HAVE to start with the 'Russ Christ Effect' - can you tell us about the origin of this term and the potential ramifications of this effect?  

Approximately 12 years ago, on a hot summer day during a severe early afternoon storm, I observed load spikes on a number of feeders in Hervey Bay.

A particular feeder line was connected to one of Queensland’s largest grid-connected solar farms, which at that time was only a few hundred kilowatts.

I was able to look at the data from the solar farm and compare that with irradiance data from the Bureau of Meteorology to verify that the rapidly changing cloud coverage logically led to significant load increases. That is, the underlying load associated with hot weather, which was not previously visible as it was masked by the solar output, became visible.

I described this effect to some workmates, who in jest decided to call it the “Russ Christ Effect”. Colleagues continued to use this term at every opportunity and the word spread both within the company and the electricity industry.

After observing this effect, it became clear to me that the more solar penetration increases and the more load that is connected during daylight hours, the more pronounced this effect would become and lead to network challenges at both a distribution (DNSP) and transmission (TNSP) level.  

More than a decade on, we are increasingly managing the impacts of the “Russ Christ Effect” on the network, as more households with solar PV are encouraged to move loads into the middle of the day to ‘solar soak’.

It is now extremely common for solar installers to take loads off controlled tariffs and put them on timers to utilise solar energy generated in the middle of the day. While this is done with the best of intentions, it certainly increases the risk we must manage on the distribution network.

To operate the network during hot days, our operations groups now also need to understand if it is going to be a cloudy day, especially if loads have been transferred to allow access to the network to do work.

In summary, I think it is really important that we truly understand our networks’ limitations and risk, and look at how to best manage those challenges now and into the future.

The Sunshine State is the Solar State and you're close to the action - what are the opportunities and challenges from your perspective? 

From a technical perspective one of the biggest opportunities is being able to influence or control the generation or load on the network. If we can do this, we can then overcome some of the challenges that become apparent from the “Russ Christ Effect” and minimise the need to augment the network.

Dynamic Operating Envelopes (DOE) will provide Energy Queensland a great opportunity to do this, whilst also enabling more renewable energy to connect to the network.  

From a non-technical perspective, the biggest challenge I see is equality and ensuring everyone benefits from the energy transition, not just those who can afford to install solar or battery systems.

In my view it would be great to see even more focus on this to ensure all customers in local communities can enjoy those benefits.

How did you get your start in the industry and how much has changed since then?  

My start in the industry was largely an accident. At university I wasn’t that interested in Power Engineering and was more interested in high frequency engineering, rather than the 50Hz stuff.  

I started my career at Telstra, and worked in a number of quite diverse roles, from designing remote radio systems, mobile phone base stations, high-capacity digital transmission, to managing transmission systems and business rules.   

After completing an MBA at QUT (Queensland University of Technology) in Brisbane, I was keen to get some business experience, and hence I applied for commercial management roles at Telstra on the Sunshine Coast and in Maryborough. I ended up with the position in Maryborough.

By accident about 19 years ago I saw an advertisement in The Courier-Mail for a job with Ergon Energy Network in Maryborough.  I wasn’t really looking to change, however, after working in the commercial management role for a couple of years, wanting to continue working regionally, and with Telstra continuing to downsize, I decided to apply for the job and was successful.

The role was very junior, but I decided to take it and learn a new industry.

It has undoubtedly been one of the best decisions I have ever made as it has given me the opportunity to remain regional, and bring up my children in a regional environment similar to that which both my wife and I experienced. It also allowed me to work for a great company that provides a lot of opportunity to its people.

Can you describe your current role and some of the interesting projects you're working on? 

As Manager for Distribution Planning, I am fortunate in my current role to lead a team that has a quite diverse work stream.

The team assesses how best to connect customers onto the Distribution network, we create projects to address emerging network constraints, and manage the voltages on the Ergon network.

We also get to work with other teams in the business, integrating new technologies and identifying opportunities for demand management.  

The team is currently doing the planning analysis, creating the projects, and performing site selection due diligence work for the network-connected Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) that Energy Queensland is connecting onto the network.

This has been a fast-moving area in the business, and I love working on projects like this that test the norms, improve processes, drive change, and present challenging targets to achieve.

The team is also starting to see quite a number of electric vehicle fast chargers connecting to the network, which pose interesting challenges, particularly in some rural areas of the network with lower reliability performance.

Based on our studies, we believe these locations present a great opportunity to support the network with energy storage, not only to improve the reliability but also the transition of those communities to renewable sources.

What does the network of the future look like and how are we planning for it? 

I hope the network of the future is an optimised network that balances and co-ordinates generation, energy storage and load as much as possible at a local level to meet customer needs.

I see micro-grids playing an important role in helping to manage reliability performance, particularly on regional and radial networks that by their physical nature, inherently have lower network reliability performance levels.  

The network of the future to me would also provide equitable outcomes to customers.  

How are you supporting customers in the energy transition?  

My team supports customers in the energy transition by determining the best way to connect them onto the distribution network. This includes load, generation and energy storage customers.

We also proactively plan the network, to meet the needs of both future and existing customers. As part of this we assess a variety of potential solutions to determine the best benefit and financial outcomes.

The team is also heavily involved in a variety of energy storage related projects, which will helps support customers in the transition.

We've heard the catchphrases 'there's no transition without transmission' and 'there's no solution without distribution' - can you explain the critical role of the Ergon and Energex networks?

There has been a lot of focus in the Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan (#QEJP) on transmission networks linking in with major infrastructure projects such as pumped hydro.

There’s also a lot happening on the distribution network, as this is the network to which the majority of customers are connected.

Our Chief Engineer Peter Price coined the phrase “there is no solution without distribution” and he is 100% on the money.

The transition is largely occurring with customers on the distribution network as they change from fossil fuels to renewable sources.

This presents a great opportunity for Energy Queensland to work with these customers and develop solutions on the distribution network to facilitate that transition at a more local level and in the most responsible way.

What do you enjoy about working for Energy Queensland and what are the opportunities in your team? 

I am lucky to work with some wonderful people. I enjoy the challenge and the pace that we are seeing as part of the transition.

The tangible output that the team produces to me is also really important.

I think it is critical to be able to look back and know myself and the team have made a significant contribution, not just to Energy Queensland but the broader community.

What do you love about where you live - and how has it influenced your thinking?  

I am absolutely privileged to work in Hervey Bay for Energy Queensland.

Jobs like mine are extremely rare in this area and I am really thankful to have this role.

Having lived in a number of different regional centres in Queensland, as well as Brisbane, I really appreciated the natural beauty of the area, with Fraser Island on our doorstep, and the freedom that living in a regional community provides.