Transgrid's control room: A closer look

At the heart of Australia’s clean energy transformation is a complex, ever-evolving system that requires innovation, precision, and adaptability. Transgrid’s control room helps manage this transformation in real time — a hub of decision-making that ensures stable, reliable power across NSW and the ACT. Jason Krstanoski, control room operations specialist, offers a unique perspective on how Transgrid is adapting to meet the challenges of the clean energy future.

Transgrid’s control room

Transgrid’s transmission network is at the heart of the National Electricity Market (NEM), and our 24/7 control room operates as its central nervous system for NSW and the ACT. It’s where vital decisions are made every day to ensure that energy flowing across the state remains stable and secure.

The people who work in our control room constantly monitor and respond to a dynamic and unpredictable energy landscape. They remotely operate transmission equipment, making real-time decisions based on the flow of alerts and data received.

They’re making decisions based on what they’re seeing and the alerts they’re receiving to ensure:

• power flows are stable and reliable,
• operating limits are not exceeded, and
• sections of the grid are isolated safely as needed for maintenance and the connection of new infrastructure, including renewable-energy generators and storage.

Control room operators also maximise our asset availability to create the broadest possible opportunity for generators to send power through our network, helping drive down costs for consumers while delivering clean and reliable power to homes and businesses.

[Trangrid Control Room]

The energy transition is changing the way the control room operates

The transition to clean energy is reshaping nearly every aspect of how we operate. Coal is exiting fast — renewables hit 46% market share in Q4 2024, peaking at 75.6% in November.

As coal generation retires faster than anticipated, we’re seeing a rapid shift to decentralised energy sources, with renewable generators dispersed across the state. This presents both challenges and opportunities.

One of the biggest changes is the increased complexity and unpredictability of the system. Our control room operators now manage a grid that operates closer to the edge of its secure envelope more frequently. With this increased volatility, they must intervene faster and more often to ensure stability.

Day-to-day heightened complexity

Think of the transmission control room as a group chat that has expanded in size from a handful of people in the days of coal to 50,000 people today.

In this ‘chat’, there are quiet contributors, frequent commentators, and urgent voices demanding immediate attention.

Over the last decade, the number of points monitored by our control room alarms has more than tripled from 18,000 to 55,000. Our operators are now dealing with up to 3,000 alarms in a single day. Their role is to cut through this noise, identify priority issues, and make decisions with precision and speed. It’s a level of complexity that requires both advanced tools and highly skilled people to manage effectively.

Transgrid’s response

At Transgrid, we are investing in the people, technology, and training needed to operate a smarter, more resilient grid. These investments ensure we can keep pace with the energy transition, maintain a reliable system, and deliver the greatest value to energy consumers.

Here’s how we are preparing for the future:

• People: We’ve expanded our headcount to handle the growing volume of data and alerts.
• Technology: We’re implementing advanced digital tools and real-time monitoring systems to increase visibility across the network and support faster, more accurate decision-making.
• Training: We’re equipping our operators with the skills they need to optimise these upgraded technologies, enabling them to manage the grid’s evolving complexities with confidence.

This toolkit is designed to give our operators predictive and defensive capabilities so they’re not just reacting to issues but anticipating them — ensuring the network remains stable even in the face of extreme weather or other disruptions.

The future of Australia’s grid

The decisions we make in the control room today are laying the foundation for a smarter, decarbonised energy grid that will power Australia for decades to come. Every piece of technology we adopt, every training program we implement, and every alert we respond to is part of a larger mission: to deliver a clean, reliable, and affordable energy future for consumers.