South Australia's Energy Solution A secure transition to affordable renewable energy www.energymining.sa.gov.au South Australians are proud that our We will also work with SA Power Networks to bring Foreword forward $10 million to enhance voltage management power system has achieved many this year. Each and every day, this saves consumers global “firsts”, but are painfully money by making appliances and rooftop solar systems aware of the economic and social work better. It will allow us to host more rooftop solar securely and provide the critical conditions which AEMO costs of a disorderly transition. says it needs. For over a decade, the growth in rooftop solar PV has We have been taking precautionary steps for over a year helped consumers manage their energy costs and working with AEMO, SA Power Networks and ElectraNet reduce emissions, but also disrupted the energy market by updating protection schemes, introducing new and challenged how we manage the power system. Now, operating rules, and also new standards to deal with low a third of South Australian homes have rooftop solar. demand. In 2017, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) At the same time, we’re leading the world’s largest warned that the growth in solar power could reduce per capita roll-out of home batteries and have four net demand on the grid to zero by 2025 and requires batteries installed or being further developed. We’re careful management. When it brought that forward demonstrating how they can be used to stabilise the the next year to 2023, the Government partnered with grid. AEMO, SA Power Networks, ElectraNet and the Essential Services Commission of South Australia (ESCOSA) to look South Australia’s previously unmanaged transition to into the future, and commissioned cutting-edge power 50 per cent renewable energy came at a significant system modelling by AEMO. economic and social cost. And fortunately, we have identified this legacy risk before history repeats itself. This world-leading modelling has exposed that under extreme conditions there are underlying risks to energy The Government wants an orderly transition to our security due to a decade of unmanaged growth in new goal of net-100 per cent renewable energy, whilst rooftop solar PV and recommended urgent actions to reducing bills even further and growing our economy. address this legacy by Spring this year. This requires the right mix of interconnection, storage, The South Australian government will generation and smart technology to balance supply and It shows that it is absolutely critical for power system demand. security to deliver Project EnergyConnect (the SA-NSW demonstrate genuine global leadership interconnector) as soon as possible. Without it, South Our Government will do it the right way, so that it Australians face unacceptable power system security benefits South Australians and encourages other places by achieving net-100 per cent renewable risks, a moratorium on new rooftop solar, as well as to reduce emissions more quickly. “ expensive interventions to bolster the grid and retrofit That’s why we are doing the hard things now to address existing solar house by house. past legacies and anticipate future challenges, and will energy through an orderly transition Until Project EnergyConnect is delivered, we will not yet follow the best expert advice to keep our system secure. be out of the woods. which delivers economic growth and We now understand that a portion of the rooftop solar installed over a decade turns off during disturbances, competitive power prices for South amplifying shocks and making it harder to recover. This is most acute at times when rooftop solar provides the Australian homes and businesses. great majority of the system’s needs. AEMO has advised that it needs backstop capabilities Hon Dan van Holst to manage rooftop solar, like it has with all other Pellekaan MP generators, to balance the system in extreme circumstances. Whilst this technical capability has been Minister for Energy and Mining in solar systems installed since 2016, that capacity is not Government of South Australia ” actionable for AEMO. To make sure consumers can keep adopting rooftop solar, we will deliver Project EnergyConnect and implement early the direction of new national standards to make that backstop actionable. 1 South Australia's Energy Solution Government of South Australia June 2020 2 The context For over a decade, South Australians In November 2018, AEMO’s South Australian Electricity Report updated its forecasts for negative operational demand have been the world’s earliest to 2023, noting that the SA-NSW Interconnector (Project and most enthusiastic adopters of EnergyConnect) would “improve system security and rooftop solar. resilience by reducing the risk of islanding of the South Australian network and helping mitigate system security This means that to AEMO’s knowledge, South Australia has risks under minimum demand conditions”. the first gigawatt (GW) scale power system in the world which in coming years can generate as much power from The South Australian government took precautionary rooftop solar to provide its midday needs. action and began working with AEMO, SA Power Networks, ElectraNet and ESCOSA to better understand the challenges In November 2017, AEMO’s South Australian Electricity Report of managing low operational demand conditions and the forecast that rooftop solar could cause negative operational behaviour of rooftop solar during disturbances. The South demand by 2025 which may “introduce operational Australian government commissioned ground-breaking challenges for balancing the power system. The power power system modelling by AEMO to understand what system and market will need to evolve to address these action, if any, was needed. challenges, including utilising the opportunities from new technologies” such as storage and greater interconnection. AEMO has now determined that negative operational demand under normal conditions could occur in 2022, but In August 2018, a lightning strike on transmission under extreme conditions could be achieved by Spring To AEMO’s knowledge, South Australia infrastructure in Queensland caused a disruption 2020 on a sunny and temperate day with low economic throughout the national market which resulted in South activity, such as a public holiday. Australia separating (islanding) from the National Electricity is the first gigawatt scale power Market. The size of the disruption was increased by the The report outlines that until Project EnergyConnect and rooftop solar reducing its output due to many inverters new smart capabilities for rooftop solar are in place, South system in the world to approach zero “tripping" and turning off during the disturbance. Australia will remain at an unacceptable risk of another “ black system event. operational demand due to such 1600 high proportions of demand met 1400 1200 by distributed resources. Analysing 1000 these types of periods requires the 800 600 development of new sophisticated 400 2019 2020 models and pioneering of new 200 2021 2022 Net grid demand after rooftop solar 0 approaches. 2023 -200 12 AM 6 AM 12 PM 6 PM 12 AM — Minimum operational demand thresholds in South Australia AEMO Technical Report” - May 2020 Photograph Andre Gascoigne 3 South Australia's Energy Solution Government of South Australia June 2020 4 Two key challenges The report from AEMO identifies two key challenges that must be AEMO has declared that delivering corrected immediately to manage the risks from a decade of rooftop Project EnergyConnect as soon as solar uptake: possible is absolutely critical for the 1. Ensuring rooftop solar PV 2. Minimum demand when operates during disturbances operating separate from the ongoing secure operation of the There is now considerable evidence that many of the National Electricity Market inverters which manage the power generated by If South Australia is separated from the National power system. If this project and new solar panels will disconnect in response to voltage Electricity Market, there needs to be sufficient demand disturbances. This could occur with a sudden outage and the right combination of power generators to smart standards for rooftop solar at a large power generator, amplifying the impact provide enough system strength, inertia, voltage upon the grid. When rooftop solar is providing a large management and frequency control to keep the amount of the state’s power needs, such an outage system secure. That means AEMO needs the same do not proceed, a moratorium on requires careful management to be able to rebalance capabilities to manage rooftop solar that it has for the power system. This means that operating protocols other types of generators to ensure it has the right new rooftop solar installations and and parameters for the power system need to be mix of resources to best manage those exceptional updated to manage such an occurrence. This also circumstances. Whilst the existing standard for solar means that improved standards and testing for solar inverters established in 2016 mandates remote other expensive interventions will be inverters are needed to make sure that new and management capabilities, the communication replacement solar installations will help maintain pathways and protocols do not exist to activate this required to be able to maintain power power system security in disturbances. feature. This will require new standards. AEMO’s report recommends that back-up capabilities be established “When South Australia is operating as