And there we have it - officialnow. South Australia has ushered...

And there we have it - officialnow.

South Australia has ushered in a brave new world for rooftop solar, with the introduction of new rules that require strict new inverter standards and households to nominate an “agent” that will be empowered to switch off their solar if asked to by the market operator.

The new rules – dubbed the “Smarter Homes” – will revolutionise the way distributed energy resources interact with the grid in South Australia.

All rooftop solar systems installed in the state from today must choose from a list of government-approved, compliant inverters (see here) and system owners must have appointed a “relevant agent” (listed here) which is approved to control these inverters.

Which means that while the standards currently apply only in South Australia, one version or another of the same rules will inevitably be extended to the rest of the National Electricity Market, and the W.A. grid, sooner rather than later, via the Australian Energy Market Operator.

Just last month, AEMO described the grid-wide need for new powers to control rooftop solar as “urgent.”

Solar industry bodies have lamented the lack of notice and warned that the swift rule change could leave retailers and installers saddled with millions of dollars-worth of redundant stock

Looks like you were right acorn - first adopters ARE getting screwed even more now.

Solar will be the cheapest form of power as they will be giving away the hardware soon to get rid or outdated stock & the tax payer will be paying even more for this 'free' power(me).

Imagine not being able to export your surplus during the day...that OK I'll just export the surplus at night now???