The LV Distributed Energy Management System (DERMS) forms one of the systems that will enable CitiPower, Powercor and United Energy (CPPALUE) to integrate and effectively manage Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) to ensure a safe and reliable network. The key drivers of the need for an LV DERMS are:
Managing Minimum Demand
DER volumes are expected to increase across the networks, with AEMO forecasting that rooftop solar systems capable of generating back to the grid will increase from 30% to 50% between the years 2030 to 2050. This growth will require a need to improve the DER monitoring and management capabilities.
In Victoria, minimum demand thresholds will be reached between 2023 and 2026, with values expected to drop by 400MW per annum. To address system security associated with falling minimum system demand, CPPALUE will need to have increased controlled load or generation by around 200-250MW per annum. There are limited existing measures for CPPALUE to manage minimum demand and with the vast majority of DER connected on CPPALUE network being uncontrolled small to medium scale Solar PV systems, of which approximately 30,000 are connected per annum across
the networks, developing a capability to effectively manage this generation is critical to being able to manage the minimum demand scenarios.
To address the growing minimum demand risks, the Victorian Government is introducing new legislation that will require all new, upgrading and replacement rooftop solar systems to be remotely turned down or switched off in an emergency. For more information, please refer to: Victoria’s Emergency Backstop Mechanism for rooftop solar | Engage Victoria.
This legislation is being introduced in two stages:
• Stage one applies to sites with capacity greater than 200kVA and came into effect in October 2023.
• Stage two applies to sites where capacity is less than or equal to 200kVA and will come into effect from 1 July 2024. For stage two applicable sites the CSIP-AUS communication protocol is the technology to enable the backstop mechanism.
Flexible Export Services
CPPALUE are currently export limiting a small percentage of customer DER (through the application of static export limits) to prevent network limits being exceeded during periods of peak solar generation. Having the ability to flexibly manage the exports of solar generation will provide the networks with improved system management capability during these peak times, while providing customers with a greater opportunity to export freely when the system can support it. The development of flexible export services is also consistent with the new DER Access & Pricing rule change which comes into effect from June 2026.
CPPALUE will incrementally meet these minimum demand and flexible export capabilities through the LV DERMS system.
Prior to the minimum demand system go-live, CPPALUE will expose its internal LV DERMS systems to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM’s) to conduct software interoperability testing to identify and action any process, implementation, or development changes that might be required to meet minimum demand system readiness. A high- level project timeline is captured below in Figure 1.
Today
Internal Development & Testing
1st July 2024
Minimum Demand-Sytem Go-Live
• New and upgrading systems only
• Internal Development & Testing of Minimum Demand Systems
• Internal Development & Testing of Minimum Demand Systems
• Internal Development & Testing of Minimum Demand Systems
• 0 < 200kW systems
• estimated ~30,000 systems per year
• 0 < 200kW systems
• estimated ~30,000 systems per year
• 0 < 200kW systems
• estimated ~30,000 systems per year
Q2 2024
Q2 2024
Q2 2024
OEM Interoperability Testing
• Onboarding OEMs for interoperability testing
• Continue internal development for Minimum Demand readiness
Figure 1: LV DERMS Project Timeline