Everyone can benefit from rooftop solar, not just home owners, under plans for digital technology to connect home energy systems, electric cars and smart appliances.
While a boon for cash-strapped households, widely distributed consumer energy assets running on free solar power are a safety challenge for a creaking electricity grid trying to cope with the excess.
Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy Jenny McAllister on Thursday announced funding for a new data exchange she said would become "the standard railway gauge of solar and batteries".
"As Australians adopt more technology like batteries, EVs and smart appliances, being able to interact easily with the grid will only become more important," she told the Smart Energy Council conference in Melbourne.
Rooftop solar was already the second-largest source of capacity in the national electricity system and making the most of it meant energy could be more reliable and more affordable for everyone, Senator McAllister said.
Supported by a $1.2 million grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) and AusNet will design a data exchange for solar and batteries to communicate with each other.
The agency is also investing $336,000 in GridWise Energy Solutions as part of an $800,000 software project that will make it easier for renewable energy to be connected to the grid.
The funding is a down-payment on a common digital platform for solar, batteries and other consumer energy resources that could unlock up to $6 billion in benefits over the next 20 years, according to Deloitte Access Economics.
Australian households and businesses have been world leaders on rooftop solar and AEMO expects the uptake of batteries, electric vehicles and new technologies to follow a similar trajectory.
But without a national data exchange, customers could face greater costs and reduced choice, AusNet general manager of network strategy and planning Rod Jones said.
"Many of our customers are trying to reduce their dependence on environmentally damaging fossil fuels by installing solar panels and batteries, while at the same time, reducing their energy costs," he said.
"A national data exchange will make it possible for energy companies to support greater customer uptake of these technologies."
Clean Energy Council policy director Con Hristodoulidis said integrating the rapid uptake of rooftop solar and behind-the-meter batteries would benefit all energy users.
"Orchestrating more of these technologies into the grid will deliver all Australian energy customers greater bill savings of up to $1500 per annum," he said.
Work on the data exchange is under way, with the first workshops with industry scheduled for June and expert Mott MacDonald to lead the co-design of the "digital spine" for a low-cost and low-carbon system.
"This is not an initiative that AEMO can do on its own," the market operator's executive general manager of reform delivery Violette Mouchaileh said.
The market body has forecast customer energy resources in the national network could reach 86 gigawatts of rooftop solar and 27GW of flexible demand by 2050.
