The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has issued a draft determination proposing to grant authorisation with a condition for five years to Melbourne-headquartered national electricity body Energy Networks Australia (ENA), Perth-headquartered energy provider Synergy, and other specified parties to allow for the procurement and implementation of a national ‘public key infrastructure’ service (PKI).
PKI is a cybersecurity technology that uses digital ‘certificates’ installed in devices (such as solar inverters) to authenticate them and encrypt communications with them and is carried out over the internet.
Distribution network service providers (DNSPs) will utilise the national PKI to communicate with devices to remotely limit or prevent consumer energy resources (CER) devices’ electricity export into the grid in times of significant excess production, known as an emergency backstop mechanism.
The PKI service would manage secure communication between CER such as rooftop solar cells, batteries, and electric vehicles, with parties in the energy grid.
ACCC Commissioner Dr Philip Williams said the PKI service will enable DNSPs to remotely limit or prevent electricity export into the grid by consumer energy resources in times of significant excess production, known as an ‘emergency backstop’ mechanism.
“While several state and territory governments have already implemented emergency backstop mechanisms, this service would give effect to a singular national approach to managing CER devices via communication protocols to avoid risks to electricity network system overload,” Williams said.
“We understand that a national regulatory framework for CER to set and enforce technical standards is being established as part of the national CER Roadmap and that whilst this is a more appropriate avenue for regulatory oversight of CER, we understand the current urgency around emergency backstop requirements.”
A final determination is expected to be made in July 2025, subject to any submissions and requests from interested parties for a pre-decision conference.
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