Solar and renewables for installers / RECs

New Inverter Standard Update – December 2021

The standard relating to solar inverters is about to change. The new inverter standard AS/NZS 4777.2:2020 has new inclusions to address grid stability issues – a new feature that is necessary to further enhance the hosting capacity to accommodate more solar and renewable energy systems.

From 18 December 2021, AS/NZS 4777.2:2015 will be superseded by AS/NZS 4777.2:2020.

During commissioning of an AS/NZS 4777.2:2020 compliant inverter, installers will be required to select a region before the inverter begins to operate. All inverters installed within Jemena electricity network will require ‘Australia A’ settings for protection and response modes.

Prior to 18 December 2021, inverters must comply with either:

•    AS/NZS 4777.2:2015 and Power Quality settings as described in Jemena’s ‘Inverter Energy System Embedded Generators Protection Requirements and Settings Summary’; or

•    AS/NZS 4777.2:2020 with the default regional setting selection set to ‘Australia A’ Inverter Requirements & Settings (AS/NZS 4777.2: 2020) 

If you wish to install an inverter that complies with AS/NZS 4777.2:2015, it is strongly recommended you submit your application on Jemena’s online portal by Friday 12 November 2021 to ensure you receive a connection offer and the contract is entered into before 18 December 2021.

Applications received after this date cannot be guaranteed to receive a connection offer and contract is entered into before 18 December 2021. In addition, if an application is submitted by 12 November 2021, but is incomplete or incorrect, we cannot guarantee we will be able to finalise our assessment and issue a connection contract to be entered into before 18 December 2021.

All connection contracts entered into and inverter installations from 18 December 2021 must comply with the latest AS/NZS 4777.2:2020 as required under the National Electricity Rules, Electricity Safety Act 1998 and Electricity Safety (General) Regulations 2019.

For the installation of AS/NZS 4777.2:2015 compliant inverters, you must have both:

•    The connection contract entered into before 18 December 2021, and

•    Signed Certificate of Electrical Safety (CES) for the AS/NZS 4777.2:2015 compliant inverter with a completion date before 18 December 2021.

Both of these requirements are regulative/ legislative obligations of the National Electricity Rules, Electricity Safety Act 1998 and Electricity Safety (General) Regulations 2019.

All inverters must be Clean Energy Council approved. A list of approved AS/NZS 4777.2:2020 inverters can be found here. Inverters compliant to AS/NZS 4777.2:2020 will be identified in the CEC list by the addition of the text ‘(AS4777-2 2020)’ after the device model number.

For eligibility criteria in relation to:

•    The small-scale technology certificates and large-scale generation certificates, compliance with AS/NZS 4777.2 current version is part of the Clean Energy Regulator (CER) eligibility criteria. With changes to the standard, the affected installation should refer to the regulations for eligibility criteria for these certificates, as provided by the Clean Energy Regulator on their website.

•    Solar Victoria Rebates, refer to Solar Victoria notice to market
https://www.solar.vic.gov.au/notice-to-market

Jemena approval of an installation may not meet the eligibility criteria of CER or Solar Victoria Rebates. This is the responsibility of the customer and supplier/installer to manage.
 

The Distributed Energy Resources Register

Jemena and all other distribution networks must submit embedded generation (i.e. rooftop solar) details to a register known as the Distributed Energy Resources register, or ‘DER’. The DER is a centralised data set for each residential and commercial embedded generation installation, which will allow networks to make better informed decisions about network investment options, and allow AEMO to forecast, plan and operate the grid more efficiently.

To ensure all required information is captured and sent to AEMO, Jemena has an online Embedded Generation application which aligns the capture of Jemena’s solar and renewables data with all other construction applications in our ‘Connect and manage my electricity’ portal.

This application must be completed prior to a request to the customers retailer requesting the meter be reconfigured to record solar generation. Creating this application auto-generates a unique installation reference number, known as the Embedded Generation application ID, or ’EGid’. The EGid is used by Jemena, AEMO and the retailer for reference throughout the configuration process.

Information for customers

For residential and commercial customers looking to install solar and renewables.

An inverter is one of the essential features of your rooftop solar system. It is the device that converts your solar energy into power you can use in your home. It also links with our electricity network and is a safety device. The inverter will automatically switch off your rooftop solar system (or ‘trip’) if something goes wrong.

Since December 2019, smart inverters are mandatory on all Victorian rooftop solar systems.

These advanced units have power quality and voltage settings that will make your system more resilient to fluctuations in power voltage on our network. Otherwise, these can cause trips which mean your system will not be generating power anymore for your home or to export.

Check with your solar installer to make sure your smart inverter is set properly in order to get the best results from your system.

When customers are ready to have their solar / renewable power connected to the grid, they must provide the following information to their energy retailer:

i.     EGid - Embedded Generation application ID
ii.    EWR - Electrical Works Request
iii.   CES - Certificate of Electrical Safety

Customers are encouraged to ensure they obtain this information from their installer / REC once their solar panels are installed and the Embedded Generation application has been submitted.

Information for installers and electrical contractors

1.    The Embedded Generation form

All installers and electrical contractors are required to:

i.    enter all required information directly into the Embedded Generation application on the Jemena ‘Connect and manage my electricity’ portal. This online application is mobile enabled, allowing data to be entered on the go; and
ii.    provide additional information in the application than has traditionally been required by Jemena. This will involve the completion of 17 fields of data relating to the devices being installed, as per the checklist below. The following table shows the new Jemena process for embedded generation applications.

Embedded Generation Application data checklist:

DER Installation Fields	AC Connection Fields	DER Device Fields
Aggregated Approved Capacity (kVA)	Number of AC Connections	Number of DER Devices
Installer Identification	AC Equipment Type	Device Type
Number of Phases Available	Inverter/Small Generating Unit Manufacturer	Device Sub Type
Number of Phases with DER installed	Inverter Model Number	Manufacturer
Does the inverter have voltage response modes (Volt-Var & Volt-Watt)?	Inverter Series	Model Number
Comments	Serial Number
National Meter Identification Number

The following table describes the new Digital process. Applicants should submit their application before they start the installation.

 

2.    Changes to the MSO Standards

The inverter standards in our updated Model Standing Offer are now also aligned with the latest minimum technical standards and AS/NZS 4777.2:2020. This will be effective from 18 December 2021, and will require all new inverters to be installed with ‘Australia A’ settings for protection and response modes.

Until then, it is important that for all new solar PV installations where the inverter complies with AS/NZS 4777.2:2015 continue to be commissioned with the correct smart inverter settings calibrated. If they are not compliant, then solar customers will not be getting the most out of their solar installations and customers on our networks will be impacted by safety or reliability risks.  The power quality response modes are shown below and should only apply to AS/NZS 4777.2:2015 compliant inverters installed with connection contract entered into before 18 December 2021 (refer to our existing Model Standing Offer effective until 17 December 2021):

Volt-var response mode (mandatory)

Reference	Voltage in Volts	Var % Rated VA
V1	208	44% (exporting vars)
V2	220 (default)	0%
V3	241	0%
V4	253	44% (sinking vars, 3.7% per volt, 0.9 power factor)

Volt-watt response mode (mandatory)

 

Digital Embedded Generation application:

Technical guidelines and inverter settings:

External Links: