Setbacks in permitting residential solar installations should now be a thing of the past in regional Western Australia after the final phase of Horizon Power’s Smart Connect Solar initiative got underway significantly ahead of schedule.
Prior to the initiative, residents and businesses in many cities within Horizon Power’s service area were excluded from rooftop solar power due to a lack of hosting capacity due to network limitations.
“Horizon Power has set a strategic goal of achieving zero customer refusal to connect rooftop solar by 2025 to address the technical challenges that prevent customers from accessing rooftop solar,” said Stephanie Unwin, CEO of Horizon Power. “Achieving this goal creates more opportunities for customers to participate in renewable energy and provides opportunities to reduce energy costs.”
What is Smart Connect Solar?
The initiative involves installing an Internet-connected bag of tricks called the Secure Gateway Device (SGD) with a system that allows Horizon Power to remotely throttle or shut down power if the amount of electricity exported to the grid threatens network stability. Horizon delivers and maintains the devices.
According to Horizon, Smart Connect Solar can result in an estimated 10% reduction in the solar power produced by a system over the course of a year.
The system is based on Horizon’s Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS), which analyzes weather patterns, power system conditions and renewable energy resources. DERMS will also enable the company to integrate and balance energy across customer resources such as batteries and electric vehicles.
The first phase of the initiative was launched in February this year, with the aim of fully implementing it by the end of the year. The program is now available in the final eight cities.
“We are proud to have completed the rollout of Smart Connect Solar earlier than expected, allowing thousands of additional customers to enjoy the benefits of renewable energy, including lower energy bills, sooner than expected,” Ms Unwin said.
Horizon Power is responsible for electricity generation, transmission and distribution in a service area of 2.3 million square kilometers. The company serves more than 36,000 homes and 9,000 businesses across 38 microgrids. Electricity is supplied via 8,356 kilometers of above-ground and underground transmission/distribution lines.
The Washington state government invested $6.36 million in the Smart Connect Solar project. You can read more about it here.
Western Australia A rooftop solar power plant
Until recently, residents in the area were disadvantaged, but PV installations continue to be rapid outside of Horizon’s coverage area. Solar installers in Perth in particular are quite busy. To date, more than half a million small systems (<100 kW output) have been installed across Western Australia.
Residents of Perth and surrounding areas benefit from a highly competitive market where system prices are the lowest in Australia and possibly the world. While feed-in tariffs in WA are very low for much of the day, like everywhere else in Australia these days it’s all about maximizing self-consumption.
The Australian Photovoltaic Institute (APVI) estimates the proportion of WA homes with PV systems is 44.6%; behind Queensland at 50.5% and South Australia at 49.9%.
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