South Australia has the highest household rooftop PV penetration in the world, with around 45% of homes having solar. In the decades ahead, we also expect many customers to electrify their homes and businesses. Forecasts show that, if this electrification is left unmanaged, demand on the distribution network could double at peak times, requiring a high level of investment in network upgrades. Thankfully, there are plenty of times when that network capacity is plentiful – we just have to make the most of it!

SA Power Networks’ flexible exports offer already allows any residential customer in South Australia to make their solar flexible and responsive to the grid – allowing greater exports most of the time, and safely reducing them when the network is congested. Now, we’re working on flexible loads through our Energy Masters project: optimising the use of different smart appliances in response to both network and price signals to get the best outcome for the customer.

SA Power Networks is working with industry to ensure that the smart home of the future offers all the ‘plug and play’ ease customers expect, and so that demand flexibility offers from retailers, distributors, aggregators and technology providers, can be integrated into simple rewards for participating households.