The installation of rooftop solar PV on millions of Australian homes continues, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, breaking minimum demand records and reaffirming the need for uniform and forward-looking Distributed Energy Resource (DER) standards.
At the request of the federal and state governments, AEMO and the Energy Security Board (ESB) were tasked with submitting a rule change request to the AEMC to establish minimum technical standards for DER. These standards aim to safely enable the continued growth and shared community benefit from rooftop solar systems, which now account for 10 per cent of total generation capacity across the NEM.
The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) is consulting on this rule change to establish nationally consistent DER technical standards in the National Electricity Rules (NER). Both AEMO and the ESB contributed to this rule change request.
Following the rule change submission to the AEMC in early May, AEMO commenced in parallel first stage consultation on minimum DER technical standards seeking stakeholder feedback on the nature and form of the standards. Click here to access AEMO’s DER consultation factsheet.
This consultation commenced at the same time as the AEMC’s rule change process, enabling stakeholders to view the standards package in its entirety and inform feedback.
AEMO’s consultation is designed to align with and consider the AEMC’s rule change scope and timeline. However, the AEMC’s draft determination is now due in December and the final determination in February 2021.
As such, AEMO has revised the timing of the second stage of consultations on the initial standard to align with the timing of the AEMC draft determination on Technical Standards for Distributed Energy Resources. This will enable consideration of the AEMC determination and industries’ direction and feedback in the development of the initial standard.
AEMO thanks stakeholders for the valuable feedback provided and will provide a further update on timeframes and progress for this work after the AEMC has published the draft determination.
For more information on AEMO’s DER standards consultation, please visit our website.