South Australia deX Project Final Knowledge Sharing Report

Background

South Australia (SA) has been a world leader in the uptake of rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, driven by high electricity prices, substantial government incentives, and favourable climatic conditions. The state’s journey with solar PV began in earnest in the mid-2000s, with rapid growth particularly from the late 2000s onward. This surge was significantly supported by the feed-in tariffs introduced by the South Australian government. These tariffs offered generous returns on solar-generated electricity fed back into the grid.

However, unmanaged solar PV can pose several challenges to an electricity system, primarily affecting grid stability and voltage levels. Given SA’s rapid uptake of solar PV, unmanaged solar PV started to become problematic by 2020.

As part of the South Australia State Government’s approach to proactively address the impacts of high penetration of rooftop solar PV, the South Australia Demand Management Trials Program (the Program) was announced in 2018. The Program used demand response and consumer energy resource (CER) management aimed to reduce energy costs for consumers by optimising the integration and use of customers’ behind-the-meter (BTM) demand response and CER.

GreenSync received this funding through the South Australian deX Project (the deX Project) to implement a digital marketplace enabling South Australian residential customers to find and accept offers from energy service providers that value the services of their CER. GreenSync submitted its deX Project funding application in 2018 and commenced the deX Project in early 2020. Data collection continued until April 2024.

The lessons learnt from pioneering trials like this project are vital to laying the foundations for the successful integration of high penetration of CER. They can be used to ensure that future projects’ benefits are maximised and that the most cost-effective solutions are implemented to maintain grid stability. The South Australian Government therefore required completion of a series of knowledge-sharing activities, including this report.

Scope and Approach

GreenSync engaged Energeia to identify and document key lessons learnt from the deX Project with the aim to inform ongoing policy, regulatory, and industry development.
This report summarises how the deX Project improved the knowledge base to unlock the full potential of BTM CER at the state and national levels. It does so by focusing on the deX Project’s key achievements in advancing the industry’s understanding of establishing effective CER marketplaces, and implications for policy, regulation, and future government initiatives.

Link to the Full Report: South Australia deX Project Knowledge Sharing Report