$2.2 million project to trial solar-friendly grid

A new trial in Melbourne’s north-west will explore how solar energy can better integrate with existing infrastructure via a technical overhaul to the area’s energy grid.

The $2.2 million trial, Creating Solar Friendly Neighbourhoods, is an alliance between leading energy infrastructure company Jemena, AusNet Services and UNSW Sydney, receiving $1.1 million in funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) as part of ARENA’s Advancing Renewables Program.

The two-year trial will roll out three technologies and intelligent control systems to increase the networks’ distributed energy resources hosting capacity. The incentive will involve three key stages:

• Phased switching of customer loads on low-voltage feeders to help mitigate the localised voltage surge caused by increased solar power.
• Power compensation to adjust the output voltage and mitigate the load unbalance challenge at the source distribution transformer.
• Battery energy storage with virtual synchronous generator capability to mitigate power quality and stability challenges caused by the high penetration of solar.
   

The trial will target 106 customers in the northern suburb of Greenvale, part of the Jemena electricity distribution network. Seventy-one Montrose customers, serviced by AusNet Services, will also participate in the trial.

Jemena Managing Director Frank Tudor said the trial was the first of its kind in Australia: “We know customers are keen to install solar panels on their homes, but that they will continue to look to the existing electricity grid for power during times when the sun isn’t shining,” Tudor said. “This trial will use international technology to make a number of technical changes to existing infrastructure so that a greater number of people can install solar panels on their homes, while maintaining the reliability of the electricity grid.”

The project will also address limits to solar energy being exported to the grid due to technical constraints and inefficiencies in solar-panel operation.

Tudor commented that, currently, around 10% of Jemena customers have rooftop solar, but estimates suggest this figure could be as high as 40% within 10 years.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Gyula Gyukli