The new standard for Grid connection of energy systems via inverters – Inverter requirements, AS/NZS 4777.2:2020, will come into effect on 18 December 2021 and it has inclusions to address grid stability issues.

Early this year, all Australian distribution network service providers (DNSPs) provided settings regarding Volt-Watt and Volt-Var setpoints as described in AS/NZS 4777.2:2015. The problem of getting installers to enter these values into the inverters was causing many inverters not being programmed correctly or not even done at all.

The new standard AS/NZS 4777.2:2020, being released will have Volt-Watt and Volt-Var functions available and enabled by default. The default setpoint reference values for power quality responses are configured into four regional settings: Australia A, Australia B. Australia C, and New Zealand.

During commissioning of an AS/NZS 4777.2:2020 compliant inverter, the installer will have to select which region. At this stage, it looks like Australia A for most DNSPs, except TasNetworks, which use Austral C.

With this in mind, Inverters will need to be approved or reapproved on the Clean Energy Council (CEC) inverter approval list. Inverters not approved by the due date of 18 December 2021, cannot be installed. This will also apply to pre-assembled integrated battery energy storage systems that include an integrated inverter.

The CEC listing may have a suffix (AS4777.2,2020) to some model numbers that were certified to the 2015 and 2020 versions of the standard. Note: those inverters will not be labelled this way on the inverter label.

Installers need to check with the approved listing of inverters before connecting any after the deadline. Another way is to make sure region settings are available during setup.