Flexible Solar Exports: SAPN Pushes Compliance, And SWER Hope

South Australia’s SA Power Networks (SAPN) is looking into the possibility of offering flexible export options to SWER customers, and tapped installers on the shoulder concerning flexible solar exports compliance generally.

Flexible solar exports allow PV systems to adapt to network conditions based on signals from a Distributed Network Service Provider (DSNP) to compatible smart internet-connected solar inverters. This can enable a much higher maximum export limit for much of the time than the fixed 5kW limit on single phase that most DNSPs permit.

SAPN is an Australian and global pioneer of flexible (aka dynamic) exports; offering an option that varies from 1.5kW to 10kW per phase depending on network capacity at the time of export. SAPN started making this available to more new/upgrading solar customers from July 2023 through a staged rollout, and the option is now available to more than 70% of SA customers – including all metropolitan areas.

Where it is available, existing solar customers can also choose to switch over (as SQ’s Trevor did), while new and upgrading solar customers don’t have much of a choice. They can select between a 1.5kW fixed export limit all the time, or the flexible option.

Flexible Exports Hope For SWER Customers

Among those yet to benefit from flexible solar exports are regional customers supplied by single-wire earth-return (SWER) lines. These customers have single wire running to their property and have only been able to install up to 5kW of solar and 5kW of battery inverter capacity.

SAPN wants to change that; stating:

“These customers may also be able to export up to 10kW from their systems; however, we note that some areas will be more limited in their export capacity than others and customers in certain regions may not be able to export at all.”

SAPN says it will provide more information about the requirements for installing solar and battery systems on SWER networks when the option becomes available.

Compliance Still An Issue

While acknowledging significant progress on compliance generally has been made, SAPN says about a quarter of all flexible export sites are non-compliant. Compliance isn’t just important to SAPN, but for installers and their customers too – failure to keep compliance percentage above 90% risks installers getting blocked from creating new applications.

“A user will be automatically notified via email and their SmartSA dashboard, if their percentage drops below the 90% benchmark,” says SAPN. “If the user doesn’t fix non-compliant applications, our 21 day, three-strikes warning and blocking controls will begin.”

SAPN is encouraging installers to ensure inverter firmware is updated to the latest version, OEM guides are followed for their specific flexible exports set-up, and to check with manufacturers about compatibility in the case of multi-inverter installations.

Further information on compliance can be found here.

Thinking About A Flexible Exports Switch?

Have an existing rooftop solar power system in SA and the option interests you, but you’re concerned how your exports may be affected?

SAPN has a simple online tool allowing you to check not only eligibility but to also see indicative past performance information on the export capacity made available in your local area over the last 12 months. It’s not a guarantee, just an indicator – read the “important information” section below the tool’s results for more details.

In my neck of the woods, the full 10kW has been available at least 98% of the time between the hours of 9am and 5pm according to the tool, based on a 10kW solar system – that result hasn’t changed since I last checked nearly 8 months ago.

SAPN’s goal is to double the amount of rooftop solar power capacity¹ it can accommodate on its network by the end of this year, and flexible exports are a very important tool in achieving this. As for other Australian states and territories, see this article from a couple of months ago summarising what’s happening with flexible exports where and when.