With the accelerated uptake of renewables such as rooftop solar on Australian electricity, network connection agreements are becoming increasingly difficult to be approved. Why? It is the fundamental behaviour of these solar systems connecting the grid. Simply put, these systems create instability and affect every other company connected to the local substation.
In the business as usual scenario for Australian substations, or local electricity grids, the maximum amount of solar supported is around 15-20%. Once this limit is reached no more solar would be approved. The network is unable to support it. Businesses will not be able to install solar.
The statistics for the National Electricity Market (NEM) in this article show 50% of renewable provided to the NEM, and rooftop solar provided half of that. Australia is getting closer to this 15-20% limit on local substations, and connection agreements are being declined as a result.
As Australian businesses look to the future to reduce costs and reduce their impact on the environment, the 6th November 2019 statistics indicates these businesses will find it increasingly difficult to benefit from rooftop solar. As Australia installs more solar, the only way to alleviate this problem is a huge investment in the grid, with the users bearing the cost.
There is an alternative, where every rooftop can install solar and benefit from selling back to the grid, without any affect to the network whatsoever. The award-winning eleXsys® technology developed in Queensland by industry pioneers that foresaw the problem.
By installing advanced Power Electronics devices, powered by Artificial Intelligence, on a customer premise (also called “behind the meter”) the potential of the entire rooftop, not just a portion is unlocked.