A new, Australia-wide electricity standard has been introduced that gives networks the power to limit the size of household solar systems – including some solar plus storage configurations – and which could add significant costs to households looking to add more solar or install some battery storage systems.
The new standard, known as 4777.1, which has just come into effect, defines the maximum capacity for inverters at a single phase domestic site to be 5kW, unless otherwise allowed by the local network.
It means that households wishing to install a system larger than 5kW – or to add more capacity to their existing system, be it through more panels or an AC-coupled battery – risk either being refused the request, or having to pay thousands more for an upgrades to three-phase power.
The move appears to be aimed at giving networks some control over the amount of domestic solar that is coming onto the system – particularly, from those households looking to increase the size of their PV systems after the closure of premium feed-in tariffs.
But a number of industry insiders told One Step Off The Grid on Wednesday that it would also have the unintended effect of limiting battery storage uptake – something networks should be encouraging, as a potentially valuable asset, as more and more distributed solar comes on-line.
More specifically, the complexities of the new rule threaten to be a major thorn in the side of a number of key AC battery makers and installers – including Tesla, Enphase and Selectronic – placing unnecessary restrictions on the uptake of their AC-coupled products.
“Let’s say you have an existing 5kW solar system, and you want to add 4kW of Enphase of AC batteries,” one industry source explained; “the new standard defines that new system size is 9kW, and therefore open to the network to reject.
“If I was Tesla, I would be going round the twist!” said the source.
According to Geoff Bragg, from NSW-based company New England Solar Power and the head of the Solar Energy Industries Association, the new rule creates a “pain in the neck” for battery storage installation.
And it comes, ironically, at a time when battery storage uptake should be being encouraged by networks, for its role in soaking up excess solar generation and in shaving peak power demand – not to mention the “virtual power plant” benefits promised to networks through the addition of smart software and energy management, such as is being tested by AGL and other utilities.
“We would hope that networks will see sense and allow AC coupling, where it can be demonstrated that it is not going to cause voltage rise issues,” Bragg told One Step. But he said on one recent installation, it had taken four applications before the local network owner, Essential Energy, agreed to the upgrade.
It is affecting those that want to simply upgrade their solar systems, including RenewEconomy contributor and ITK analyst David Leitch, who was told he would have to upgrade to 3-phase, at a cost of several thousand dollars, because he wanted to lift his solar system from 4kW to 6kW.
As Leitch has noted in this analysis, for those high energy consumption households who want a PV system big enough to charge a battery, and perhaps help power a pool pump and air-conditioning, it takes what would have been an economically sound decision back into the realm of ideology.
“It’s just yet another thing that will piss people off. Maybe push people off grid,” said another source.
This post was published on April 5, 2017 12:42 pm
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Which body and on what authority made this decision; standard 4777.1?
The matter should be brought for debate in the Senate - might be waiting a long time for the ALP to act but hopefully the Greens will shine the light on the decision which was clearly made in the interest of the the network and generator owners.
I don't like parts of 4777 but I'm not sure we should get non-technical pollies to get involved in Australian Standards!
They pretty obviously already are involved.
Certainly not good for Enphase or Tesla customers on a single phase. Those with a DC coupled system not so bad if their loads and consumption profile isn't ultra high.
I've got a 4.8 KW solar array and am considering adding Enphase Battery System soon. Now it looks like it will cost heaps extra just when battery prices start coming down. Those bloody Networks are trying everything to stick it up solar households, its enough to make you want to go Off Grid !
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Don't know what happened below. Anyway if you have a DC string inverter I wouldn't go Enphase batteries. 1) there expensive $2,300 retail, plus install each, plus a metered gateway add another $800. 2) Only 1.1kwh usable and can only draw 270wh out of each one, so you would need a few of them just to draw 1kwh. 3) They don't provide back up should the grid go down.
Hi Solarguy. Love the initial reply, really eye catching format, yes. I've got a couple of systems making up the 4.8 KW. Original arrays back in 2008 & 2010 with total of 3.2KW all string and a recent install of 1.6KW with micro inverters. I've got the Envoy S meter which really helps me see and mange my usage. My thought was to go with 3 - 4 Enphase Battery units. I'm single phase so if this 3 phase business has to be added to the cost then it isn't quite so attractive an idea anymore. Bloody Networks !
How much do you export on the current 4.8kw system per day?
I have only had the Envoy S working fully for the months of Feb and March. I just pulled off some reports which tell me in Feb, exported a total of 300 kwh and March exported 389 kwh.
That's good Joe, that's an average of 10.7kwh February and 12.5kwh/day for March.
On the face of it, an LG Chem 10kwh battery or 2 x GCL 5.6kwh DC coupled with your original array will possible.
The Envoy will tell you how much and when PV production is consumed and how much you import from the grid too.
So how much are you consuming from the grid over night?
Since when have the network owners been responsible for the writing of Australian Standards. Standards are written by industry experts as guidelines, safety provisions and regulations to follow in the interest of good workmanship and safe installations and manufacturing standards. The network operators should get off their butts and start looking at how to incorporate solar and battery storage into their systems (specifically Voltage Control) or eventually they will have all of these poles and wires with nothing going through them.
Correct me if I am wrong but as it currently stands Ergon will allow a single phase domestic premises to have a system lager than 5kW if it does not export to the grid.
If you use up to 30 kW per day you will need a system of around 7kW and a battery of about 12kW and you will draw very little form the grid and would not have much to spare for export any way. The day is coming that a system like this to be viable is not far away. I reckon this system currently stands at a 10 year payback period when it gets down to 7 years go get it and that won't be to far in the future. Unfortunately there are not many single phase Inverters over 5 kw and the CEC Array limitation on these is around the 6.5kW based on the AC value of 5kW.
You will be able to get STC's for 6.5kw and anything over that you won't in that scenario. There is no limitation however to going bigger with PV, you just can't claim STC's for the extra. Assuming a DC coupled system.
CEC recently advised the installer for my home that it is not STCs, but oversizing panels compared to inverter more than 30% is not allowed. Either by a law or standard or otherwise. I can't verify personally they said this.
The CER will pay STC's up to the oversized limit of + 33%. Any extra PV over that they won't pay any more. 33% is from guidance from CEC.
Typical of the energy companies. They pretend that they are all embracing the 'energy revolution' and then do the dirty behind the scenes. It's bad enough that in NSW we get a mingy 6 cents FiT and now they want to stymie battery installations and PV rooftop additions. It is just crazy stuff. Next they will introduce two tiered pricing, one rate for PV households and another for non PV households and that will really tip people over the edge.
Does this standard refer to grid connected solar only or does it include off grid solar? An article in Solar Choice suggests for some people a parallel off grid solar plus storage setup, such as for those that perhaps have a legacy premium FiT, but want to install more solar for purely domestic use. Would this be possible under this standard?
If this refers to grid connect systems only, and the FiT's are generally nominal, then import only grid connections would probably be worth while. For example, with a 5KW solar array and no storage you might have an excess of 10KWH to export a day, and get 6c/KWH for this , that's 60c/day -hardly worth the effort
I know someone with a grid-import-only setup in New Mexico -- They call it 'grid assisted'. The utility company there has such a bad attitude toward solar that their best option was to put in the electrical equivalent of a "backfeed preventer" and not allow any power to return to the grid.
Ian, to answer your questions: Only for grid connects. And at this stage I don't know how you could run an off grid system parallel with a grid system with out turning one off.
The article includes Selectronic as a product that may be affected. I have been told that this will not apply if this is installed in a UPS configuration. Can anybody confirm whether such a setup would comply?
Well Giles a bit of gotcha moment for anyone who has installed Ephase or Tesla.
However, if you have a DC coupled hybrid inverter (5kwp) you can oversize the PV and install all the battery you need within the load and consumption profile.
I don't think it will effect existing systems?
No mate, not existing systems, only inverters installed from 1/4/17.
So, I don't quite get your comment on those that have installed Enphase or Tesla. Won't effect those who have installed already. Unless that is what you are saying.
If you had an Enphase system installed that is over 5kw before 1/4/17 your ok. However, if you want to upgrade it further, say from 6kw to 8kw it won't be allowed, unless the network owner agrees to it and they most likely won't.
Sounds like time for a very thoughtful and thorough complaint to the ACCC about anti-competitive practices, and repeated use of the words competition and gouging at pollies in marginal seats.
Yes another reason to go off grid