SwitchDin submission to Vic Emergency backstop Mechanism

SwitchDin supports the Victorian Government proposal to implement an Emergency Backstop Mechanism. It is crucial that Victoria adopts the same approach as South Australia (SA) and this must include the same testing procedure for interoperability between inverters and the distribution network service provider (DNSP) utility server. Otherwise there is a risk that each DNSP’s utility server will be different and incompatible with the established list of inverters tested by SA Power Networks and listed by the Clean Energy Council (CEC). This would necessitate multiple testing procedures and multiple inverter ‘white lists’. It would fragment a market that is already small and too fragmented. Victoria can help ensure that this does not happen. 

The interoperability of inverters will be a wasted capability unless all Victorian DNSPs are capable of interacting with consumer energy resources utilising IEEE 2030.5 compliant utility servers and clients aligned with the Australian Common Smart Inverter Profile (CSIP-Aus) implementation guide. That’s not all. It will also be crucial to ensure that all Victorian DNSPs’ utility servers are interoperable with all the inverters already on the CEC list of Inverters with Software Communication Clients. Most importantly, Victorian DNSPs must use the same testing procedure used by SAPN, which is being adopted as the basis for a national CSIP-Aus testing procedure.

Learn more about the recommendations SwitchDin made in our submission to the Victorian Government here: