Compliance of DER with Technical Settings

AS/NZS4777.2:2020 is a new standard for small-scale inverters that became mandatory for all new installations in Australia on 18 December 2021.

The new standard was the result of almost two years’ collaborative industry effort through a Standards Australia process. The changes were aimed at raising performance requirements for small scale inverters, with a particular focus on improving disturbance ride-through capabilities (see previous work here) for distributed energy resources (DER) namely distributed PV (DPV) and battery energy storage systems. These new requirements are commensurate with the growing contribution and role of DER in the future power system, future proofing this fleet and enabling continued uptake for consumers.

Given the importance of these new disturbance ride-through capabilities to future grid security, AEMO has an ongoing program of work to investigate the behaviour of distributed inverters installed under this new standard.

AEMO has developed a report that describes the nature and scale of compliance of DER with technical settings as observed through these investigations, focussing on DPV inverters to AS/NZS4777.2 in Australia. It further seeks to detail the impacts of non-compliance on power system security, highlighting the importance and urgency of improving DER compliance.

The information provided in this report is intended to support and complement the Australian Energy Market Commission’s (AEMC) review into consumer energy resources technical standards.

Any stakeholders that are interested in collaborating with AEMO on matters related to compliance with technical standards or providing feedback on the data, analysis and insights outlined in this report, please contact DERProgram@aemo.com.au