A requirement in Victoria that new home solar power systems are able to be throttled or switched off remotely is meant to kick in soon; but there may be some re-jiggering.
First, why is an emergency backstop mechanism needed?
Home solar power uptake in Victoria has been zipping along, due in part to rising energy bills and the generous Victorian solar panel rebate. But you can have too much of a good thing; particularly on mild, sunny days when mains electricity demand is low and solar exports are high – so high that it creates network stability issues. In a worst-case scenario, this could lead to blackouts and infrastructure damage.
The emergency backstop mechanism (EBM) will help avoid this, and among other benefits are allowing more systems to be installed and paving the way towards flexible exports.
As the name suggests, the emergency backstop mechanism is intended for use only in dire situations. As a first step if activated after direction from the Australian Electricity Market Operator (AEMO), a Distributed Network Service Provider (DNSP) will only reduce or switch off solar exports so a household can continue to consume their self-generated electricity. If network stability issues persist, the DNSP may turn off systems as a last resort and for a short duration. In either scenario, the customer will still have mains supply. An “all-clear” signal will be sent when the emergency passes and exports/operation will return to normal.
How Will The Emergency Backstop Be Implemented?
A solar system must be able to communicate using the Common Smart Inverter Profile Australia (CSIP-AUS) and be connected to the internet so it can receive these signals from a DNSP.
SQ founder Finn explained CSIP-AUS last year when the Victorian government was calling for input into the design of an emergency backstop mechanism. At the time, he recommended CSIP-AUS as being much more elegant than what some states have introduced, and South Australia had already done the hard yards implementing CSIP-AUS requirements.
Who Will Be Impacted?
Stage 1 of the EBM commenced in late October last year, but only applied to new, upgraded (meaning inverter) or replacement systems above 200kW capacity; unless an inverter is being replaced under warranty like-for-like.
Stage 2 applies to smaller grid-connected systems from July 1. But if you already have a solar power system installed or an inverter is being replaced like-for-like under warranty, this will not affect you. Only those installing new systems, or upgrading (inverter) or replacing an existing system will be impacted. Thanks to SA’s efforts, there are plenty of good quality solar inverters that comply, and other third-party devices are available.
If the internet cannot be connected at your premises, you can still install a solar system without EBM enabled, but it will still need to have EBM compliant equipment and lower export limits will be applied, unlikely to be greater than 1.5 kW.
Uncertainty Around July 1
As for the July 1 kick-off, there’s a notice on the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action’s (DEECA’s) information page stating:
“DEECA is currently reviewing the industry’s readiness to meet a 1 July 2024 commencement date for Stage 2 and will provide an update on any decision to introduce transitional arrangements for compliance on the completion of this review.”
What “transitional arrangements” might look like, I don’t know – but with under 4 weeks to go, things are being cut a bit fine. DEECA may just provide a little wiggle room for extenuating circumstances, or perhaps there are some bugs in regulatory/admin processes that still need stomping.
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Update: July 9, 2024. Stage 2 of the emergency backstop implementation has been delayed to October 1.
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In summary, there shouldn’t be anything to fear from Victoria’s big red button. There’s been little hollering from SA system owners stating they have been negatively affected that I’m aware of. This is just part of Australia increasingly shifting to a renewable energy based electricity system, and at least in Victoria it appears this is generally being done right in terms of the remote shutdown tech chosen.
To find out more, check out the Emergency Backstop Mechanism customer factsheet. For installers, read DEECA’s emergency backstop industry guidance.
About Michael Bloch
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Can AGL refuse to give me a start
And end read on my statement
Because I am on a TOU that they
Changed on my meter with out
Telling me.
Graham.
Hi,
With a Smart Meter, you can see the readings yourself (on mine at least). When I first had one installed (2011), I read it every 3 months to compare to the retailer figures, and found it was incorrect. Took over a year, and a meter replacement to have it corrected.
Both Origin (1st retailer) and Powershop (3rd retailer) list the figures on the bill, don’t remember if Globird (2nd retailer) did (just checked old emails, and found they didn’t). I also have a monitor (free at the time from Origin – still works BTW) connected to the Smart Meter, and that reads it remotely. Figures are the same as the bills. Can also download data from remote meter and the distributor (Powercor).
b0b
Thanks Bob,
For all those interested you can access your own meter data following processes listed here :
https://support.solarquotes.com.au/hc/en-us/articles/360001312176-How-to-access-your-smart-meter-data
It’s your information and the retailers are obliged by law to give you access.
So could this tech be implemented to the home.owners advantage so you don’t have to pay for electricity sent into the grid during certain hours as NSW is planning?
This would be economically rational and what is the point of smart technology and meters if households can’t participate in cost avoidance using the same technology in a national market.
A household budget is a small business too.
Andrew, you aren’t going to have a pay to send power to the grid.
It’s only a 1.2c per kwh to the grid reduction on your feed in, you won’t get a bill, and still get the balance of your regular feed in applied to your bill.
The media beat up on this is designed to cause people to click their stories and think they’ll be getting billed for 1000 – 1500 ‘penalties’.
NSW is first, think a few others same time . . . all NEM states will get this, SA is next year I think.
Easy to avoid this in any case, if you divert HWS to those hours, use as much power hungry appliances as you can through that period, or better still, get that battery if you can get a good deal with a govco rebate.
Rather than throttle the output from people looking to make the most of their solar, maybe build more batteries and pumped hydro to smooth out the difference between supply and demand? Not only would that increase the value of the exported solar (and hopefully the FIT), we’d be burning less fossil fuels and reducing emissions faster, even at night.
Do any of the experts here know if any of the VPP type companies are doing this ?
Using excess grid solar is a great idea for pumped hydro in the solar soak hours.
Stuff their minuscule feed in credits. Get off the grid and use a diesel generator when needed. Batteries are too expensive and always will be.
This is all about government control of your energy usage.
Hi Chris,
You’ll be popular with the neighbours with a genny wailing all night to run the heating I assure you. It’ll be a lot more expensive and less reliable than the grid too. Much better option is a new EV with 40 or more kWh of storage. Effectively it’s a massive battery with a free car, when charged with off peak and then discharged at other times it’ll run rings around the economic performance of a generator.
https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/install-second-powerwall/
https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/electromobile-renewable-future/
Why can’t excess power be diverted to batteries? batteries which would not only reduce waste but assist with winter loads.
A little off topic but my question is why aren’t all new meters fitted so that they can be read remotely, and if retro fitting was done by the electric supplier then the costs would be off set by the redundancy of meter readers. If this is not the correct forum for my question could you slot it into the appropriate blog topic .
Thanks Steven
Pretty sure all new meter installs are now smart meters, and all but very remote are automatically uploading data to the power suppliers, and then forwarded to the retailers daily.
Both are required by law to make available a csv download to every client, and usually end of next day it’s there waiting for you to download it whenever you like.
I’ve read on various news and forums that in the next year or three, all consumers will be required to be moved onto smart meters.
New solar farms are being approved and built regularly. Building more solar farms while at the same time restricting residential solar exports seems contradictory. More energy storage is needed rather than more generating capacity from more solar farms so that curtailment of residential exports isn’t required. What am I missing here?
Probably boils down to big corporate $$$$$, money talks.
Getting close to being best to have your own setup . . . decent solar capacity, battery (whether a normal one or EV V2H / V2L / V2G, just not depend on the grid at all if possible.
If lucky enough to get a small feed in, it might even cover your supply charge.
My concern is like most things ‘Internet’ there’s the possibility of the EBM system being hacked. And I’m sure hackers out there who get great joy out of proving they can disrupt whatever they like would love to shut down everyone’s inverters by working out how to send a bogus ‘stop’ command.
Additionally, when a system is in throttled mode the consumer should be given a ZERO daily charge for the day concerned as they are helping to maintain stability of a deliberately under designed and potentially frail grid.
Regarding remote turning off solar power because of grid instability.
I really think there is no need.
Two reasons:
1) I have a small off grid system. The load on it can vary from a few hundred watts to 2 kilowatts. There is no instability. The voltage remains at the inverter’s rated 230VAC output regardless of load.
2) My grid connected inverters stop feeding when the voltage rises too much. I see it on my production figures.
My output graph sometimes has a flat top rather than the ideal bell curve.
Even in ideal solar generating condition my export figures can be quite low.
When I check the mains voltage in these circumstances my Fluke meter reading is closer to 245 volts than 240 volts.
If all grid connected inverters are set for 240 volts, power is only exported when the grid voltage is lower than that.
Cable voltage drop will determine that any house’s output will not travel very far if that power is not required.
Dave Hamilton
Email from Jemena to Victorian households today (6/9/2024) saying Emergency Backstop Mechanism is mandatory from 1 January 2025.
From 1 January 2025, to be able to connect an inverter to our network, it must appear on both the list of Clean Energy Council CSIP-Aus compliant inverters AND Jemena’s approved inverter list.
Clean Energy Council CSIP-Aus compliant inverters
https://www.cleanenergycouncil.org.au/industry/products/inverters/approved-inverters
Jemena’s approved inverter list
https://www.jemena.com.au/electricity/solar-and-other-technologies/jemena-approved-list-of-inverters/