Solar Inverter Compliance Progressing, Yet Room for Improvement: AEMO’s Assessment
Australia’s energy market operator, AEMO, has reported “significant progress” in compliance rates for inverter installation standards in the rooftop solar industry. The operator had previously issued an urgent appeal for compliance with the standards to ensure the stability of the grid. The standards require new inverters connecting to the grid to have an undervoltage disturbance ride-through capability. A random audit conducted by AEMO revealed that only 28% of inverter systems had the correct settings, despite being technically capable of meeting the standards. AEMO called for industry and regulatory groups to achieve at least 90% compliance by the end of the year. While that target has not been reached, proactive actions from stakeholders, particularly inverter manufacturers, have led to significant progress. Compliance has increased from just under 40% in early 2022 to an estimated 75-80% in early 2023. AEMO continues to recommend a target of at least 90% compliance by December 2023.
James Sturch, a veteran of the solar and battery industry, emphasizes the importance of inverter standard compliance for the rooftop solar industry. He explains that if the industry does not address the issue, networks and electrical regulators may impose their own processes and requirements, leading to additional costs. Sturch’s company, Solar Edge, has reviewed all of its inverter installations since the launch of the 2020 standard and reset any systems that were installed incorrectly. However, some inverter manufacturers may be struggling to meet the standards due to a lack of access to installed inverters or a lack of support to update them. A review of the standards is currently underway to address these issues and improve compliance rates.
The progress in compliance not only mitigates risks to system security but also delivers benefits to customers by increasing the capacity for distributed energy resources (DER) and reducing intervention costs. AEMO encourages manufacturers and stakeholders to participate in the review process to further improve compliance rates.
By Sophie Vorrath
