The CEC has called on the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) to develop a framework for grid services provided by distributed energy resources (DER) to assist with determining which grid services should be paid for and which, if any, might be reasonable to require as a condition of grid connection.
In a report published last year, the AEMC acknowledged that the technical requirements imposed through grid connection arrangements and AS 4777 do not appear to value or incentivise the provision of system security services by distributed energy resources, and some of them may impede it.
The issue of remuneration for grid services will become increasingly important as we move from the current generation of inverters with autonomous response to a future system of inverters capable of dynamic control. Dynamic control would enable networks or third parties to remotely control DER to provide grid services, when and where they are needed for network management.
Decisions about whether and how to remunerate these services should not be left with distribution networks. This is an appropriate role for government.
