Impacts of the Victorian Government solar rebate Accelerating distributed energy in

Customer Forum

11 October 2018 Solar Homes Rebate – the offer

Targeting 650,000 customers Eligibility criteria: • Combined household Income of less  Solar Panel Rebate than $180,000 per annum The Victorian Government will provide a • Principle place of residence only 50 per cent rebate on the cost of a solar valued under $3,000,000 PV system, up to a maximum rebate of $2,225 in 2018-19. • No existing system installed on property or had existing solar installer  Solar Hot Water Rebate before 2009 The Victorian Government is providing • Uses a CEC approved product & $1,000 rebates for 6,000 households for installer solar hot water in 2018-19. • Has had an eligible solar panel system  Post election promise installed on or after 19 August 2018 Interest free loans and 10k batteries at • Engages an installer with no significant half price. contravention history, over past 3 years

2 The customer promise in market

“BREAKING NEWS - $2,225 additional grant for solar power from today! Huge news coming through from the State Government this morning. From today, any residential solar system installed in Victoria* is eligible for an extra $2,225 grant! This means that you can increase your new system by 2kW for no extra cost, install a 6.5kWh battery for an extra $4,000, or use the grant to reduce the price of your system. Our phones will be running hot over the next 48 hours, so please message us via Facebook, or email [email protected] if you have any queries regarding this program. http://www.solar.vic.gov.au/ We appreciate your patience as we work through a heavy volume of enquiries.”

3 Forecast impacts for AusNet Services

This year we estimate we will receive 10k solar connection requests as BAU. 33% of the With the subsidy: enquiries to • Moderate scenario, we could expect another 7k on top of BAU. This means a total of Solar Vic to 17k connections. date are in our • High scenario, we would expect 11k on top of BAU. This means a total of 21k patch, a lot of connections. our customers will be eligible

The capacity to take generation across the network is decreasing, driving more complexity.

128 voltage complaints Aug-Sept 18 : 80% of connections are going through the recorded from 1 January automated process. 20% need manual intervention & this number 2018 will grow with size of systems, complexity & constraints. 4 Forecast impacts for AusNet Services

Solar subsidies push us quickly As capacity decreases, we will have to limit the into the realities of a bi-directional amount of energy being exported ….this is network… small today but growing and is mostly rural

Todays Network

Power Flow approach Flow Planning & Power

…resulting in increased voltage Over to Tom… issues for customers

5 Possible customer outcomes for solar connections - today

No Approved! Install system size and export within business rules (10kW capacity, ~95% 5kW export per phase)

Submit Is the I want network network solar! constrained? application No Approved with limits. Install system with ~5% reduced size or export limit

Is the network 100% Yes constrained ? Not Not approved. We have reached target been capacity in the area so we are unable to done Yes connect anymore systems yet

6 In summary, the consequences for customers could be…

1. Customer solar connection processes could be stressed – longer lead-times for customers, internal resource overloads.

2. Decrease in customer satisfaction – more voltage spikes, more appliance issues, more export limits, refusals based on size of installations, more illegal generation, customer complaints and adverse media activity.

3. Less ability to make the most of their DER investment – More “passive” installations will be connected leading to a loss of ability to coordinate the flows to support future distributed energy markets, the network etc.

4. Additional cost driven by reactive augmentation to overcome the above. Today all customers will pay, is this equitable?

7 What have we done?

1. Established ‘solar subsidies’ working group 2. Met with Solar Victoria and the Victorian Government to discuss implications and a path forward for successful implementation 3. Implemented a webpage on our website to address the announcement 4. Assessed short term resources to manage increasing volume of customer enquiries (Call centre, New Conns & Customer & Community). 5. Set up weekly tracking of the number of DER applications & the % going through the automated vs. manual process. 6. Finalised the new online approval tool designs and initiated planning for development 7. Conducted a workshop on the manual pre-approval process to look for opportunities to reduce assessment times 8. Draft new flexible connection agreements with our customers to enable us to maximise generation for all customers, using smart inverter functionality 8

What do we need to do next?

1. Finalise the DER customer journey remaining recommendations e.g. improving invoicing, standardising paperwork 2. Finalise and implement new flexible connection agreements with our customers to enable us to maximise renewable energy generation for all customers, using smart inverter functionality 3. Define our policy for augmenting the network , how do we charge for that? Joint DB decisions needed on pricing & connections policy. 4. Continue the modelling of the hosting capacity of the network so we can truly understand how much generation we can take today. 5. Communicate our response strongly to govt & stakeholders 6. Actively engage with solar installers. 7. Reflect on the impacts to our gas and transmission businesses.

9 Online approval tool designs – example screens

10