SwitchDin to deliver the Northern Territory’s first Virtual Power Plant

SwitchDin will accelerate a clean energy future in the Northern Territory as the energy management platform provider for the NT’s first residential Virtual Power Plant (VPP), the Solar Connect VPP.

The West MacDonnell Ranges surround the Central Australian town of Alice Springs. Image credit: Intyalheme Centre for Future Energy

The Solar Connect VPP provides an opportunity for the community to be involved in one of Future grid’s innovative trials. Future Grid is a whole-of-system project that considers how Alice Springs can achieve 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030, through a series of trials, models and investigations.

SwitchDin CEO Dr Andrew Mears said, “SwitchDin has worked with major energy retailers across Australia to create VPPs using Stormcloud. What we’re doing with the Solar Connect VPP is another example of how our technology is being used to optimise rooftop solar and home batteries for the benefit of the grid, households and communities that are connected to the grid.

“The Solar Connect VPP once again demonstrates how we can work in regional locations such as Alice Springs, and this may reduce the need for more investment in transmission and distribution infrastructure to send energy from centralised electricity generators.”

The VPP will use Stormcloud, SwitchDin's digital orchestration platform that securely connects distributed energy resources to make the grid more secure and efficient, as well as SwitchDin’s Droplet hardware and virtual Cloud Droplets (for OEM cloud APIs), which will enable connections with inverters from Fronius, SMA and Sungrow and, in the near future, Redback.

More than 15 inverter models that are attached to brand new solar systems or systems that are a few years old will be connected to this VPP that will serve the Alice Springs population of approximately 30,000 people with communities stretching as far as 130km from the town.

Unlike other VPPs that are designed around home batteries for demand response programs, the Solar Connect VPP is focused on both the management of solar inverters as well as battery storage systems. This has been possible through the extensive integration partnerships that SwitchDin has built with over 30 equipment brands.

Alice Springs has very high levels of solar energy contributing to the overall energy mix. According to data analysed by the Alice Springs Future Grid project, during sunny days with low loads, as much as 50% of all power in Alice Springs and 75% of household demand can be supplied by solar PV systems. However, the average solar energy fraction across the year is only 10%. More than 25% of houses in Alice Springs have solar PV on their roof and there is 22 MW of installed rooftop solar in Alice Springs.

Alice Springs is an islanded grid within a geographically small area. Even though the its grid is small compared to the NEM or SWIS, it retains all the characteristics of those larger systems.

Lyndon Frearson, Project Director of the Alice Springs Future Grid said, “The Alice Springs grid has an independent system operator, a separated network operator, competitive generators operating in a market (of sorts), and a competitive retail market using a version of the National Energy Rules. Therefore, it’s complex enough for trials run in Alice Springs to provide learnings applicable elsewhere, but small enough to run trials while limiting risk. These trials are critical for the whole of Australia because they will help outline pathways that could be part of future grids across the country.”

Through the Solar Connect VPP, SwitchDin is proving that the orchestration of distributed energy resources to support a network will ultimately enable greater levels of PV systems to be safely connected to smaller and less stable grids. It will demonstrate that it's possible for geographically distant grids to have a high penetration of renewables without a major investment in the transmission and distribution network.

Lyndon added, “The Alice Springs Future Grid project is working for the whole community, and all residents connected to the grid. The grid extends to the remote Indigenous communities of Santa Teresa and Hermannsburg, meaning First Nations People make up approximately one quarter of the grid-connected population.

The project recognises residential solar can have the effect of enabling those with the financial means to do so to reduce their power bills, while limiting the capacity of those with less means to do so. As such, one of Future Grid’s series of investigations is a specific study looking at how access to the benefits of clean energy technology can be made easier, regardless of demographics.

Many First Nations People in Alice Springs live in town camps, so Future Grid is working with the representative organisations for town camp residents, to map how they can participate in the clean energy transition.

Economics plays a prominent factor in what’s possible for this small population served by an isolated grid. Ultimately Future Grid is working to optimise the use existing grid infrastructure, a valuable publicly owned asset, rather than promoting the deployment of more expensive discreet technical interventions.”

The delivery of this project is co-ordinated by the Intyalheme Centre for Future Energy, on behalf of Desert Knowledge Australia (DKA) with project partners including Jacana Energy, Power and Water Corporation and the Arid Lands Environment Centre. Knowledge gained from this project will be shared by CSIRO who will disseminate lessons learnt across industry.

The Alice Springs Future Grid is supported by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), the Australian Government and the Northern Territory Government. It is due to conclude in mid-2023 with findings due to be included in various reports, including a Roadmap to 2030. More information can be found online at www.alicespringsfuturegrid.com.au.