ISF, together with AusNet Services, Essential Energy, Mondo and Repost Power, claimed the Innovation Award for the Networks Renewed project at the 2019 Australian Clean Energy Summit in Sydney on 30 July.
The Clean Energy awards honour excellence in the fields of innovation and business community engagement in the clean energy sector. They recognise the industry’s extraordinary talent in the middle of an unprecedented construction and investment boom.
Networks Renewed was a $5 million trial funded by Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) that challenged the perception that solar PV is troublesome to the performance of the Australian electricity networks through its potential to increase voltage variability. The project specifically focused on investigating the potential for smart inverters to regulate network voltage.
The trial had two phases: a pilot-scale demonstration during 2017 and 2018 to test the technical voltage control capability at a small scale, followed by a market-scale demonstration in 2018 and 2019 to ramp up deployment and deliver significant network impact. This involved recruiting 90 customers under innovative commercial models with three network business partners – Essential Energy in NSW, and United Energy and AusNet Services in Victoria. Two new energy businesses, Reposit Power and Mondo, provided the control and integration technology for the project.
The key finding from the project was that voltage can be successfully managed by using real and reactive power through smart inverters in households.
Dr Geoff James, Research Principal at ISF says: "This shows that solar PV and batteries can improve power quality on the electricity network. It opens the door to new business opportunities based on the idea that rooftop solar can be an asset to everyone. We are excited to take the next step with the project, which is to move this from a technical solution to a viable mainstream option."