Emergency Solar Management
Yes, there are changes to electrical wiring for meter control only. Please refer to the Distribution Customer Connection Requirements and the video below
Emergency Solar Management only applies to the South West Interconnected System (SWIS).
Customers not eligible for Synergy DEBS or REBS are excluded from Emergency Solar Management control requirements.
Licensed electricians are required to do this work. They have the skill and ability to review an electrical installation and where necessary access electrical switchboards to determine required work. It is illegal for unqualified workers to perform electrical work.
There's no cost to the customer for the dual element meter unit. The cost for solar installation with meter control method depends on site conditions.
No, a second AMI meter can't be used.
As outline in the Distribution Customer Connection Requirements, the following choices are available for meter control where single phase export limiting or energy monitoring are provided as an option:
- Monitoring measures load only.
- Monitoring measures the net load and generation.
All installations must comply with the Basic EG Connection Technical Requirements and the manufacturer’s requirements.
Yes, the main switches will need to be circuit breakers.
We’ve created training assets to assist solar installers prepare the site for Western Power:
Requirements: Distribution Customer Connection Requirements
Webinar: Meter Control Method
Link: Meter Control Method for Emergency Solar Management
Webinar: Solar installer wiring training
Link: Emergency Solar Management – Solar installer wiring training video
Western Power will not switch the inverter system on but will leave a ‘Meter Service Work’ card in the letter box after the work has been completed. The electricity retailer will email the electricity account holder when they can start the system and commence generating.
The entire system would need to meet Western Power's connection technical requirements for the new battery components and the existing system must be compliant with settings at time of original installation. In this situation, the applicant is not subject to ESM requirements.
The electrician installing the system is permitted to temporarily connect the system to test, commission and set up for API cloud solution. The inverter must be isolated (switched off) at the main switch inverter supply following these steps.
A general power outage will cause the PV inverter to shut down its output to the grid. They're designed for this and all the control settings will be restored when switched back on. We don't expect any troubleshooting will be required when power supply returns.
Do we need an inverter energy meter for systems with an inverter up to 5kW? Inverter energy meters (to monitor consumption and export) are required by Western Power, when an export limit is specified during the application process, typically for all systems 5kW and above to manage the export limit operation. Inverter energy meters are also often used for system less than 5 kW on small networks where a site has a limited export. Some consumers find it useful to add inverter energy meters for load monitoring to manage the energy generated from their solar systems even when no export limit is specified.
The export limiting device can be set up in the sub-board for the house or individual user, provided that both the load and generation are monitored and generation can be reduced so that the export amount is equal or less than the limited for the site.