Flexible Exports
Solar customers can unlock greater value with Flexible Exports, almost doubling the amount of renewable energy in the grid and improving the network reliability.
Building our solar future together
Customers are leading the way with customer-generated solar energy. By 2040, half of Endeavour Energy’s customers are forecast to have solar panels connected to the grid.
Endeavour Energy is acting now to make our network smarter, allowing new and existing solar customers to export more of their excess solar energy to the grid. However, there is a hurdle we are working to overcome.
Electricity distribution networks were not originally designed to receive large amounts of excess solar energy feeding into them. When this occurs, it can overload the grid causing outages, tripping off solar inverters and damaging household appliances.
Flexible Exports – a smarter, more dynamic option
To maintain grid reliability, networks have traditionally applied a low, flat limit to the amount of solar energy customers can export back into the grid at all times. It’s time for a new, more flexible approach.
With Flexible Exports, customers allow Endeavour Energy to communicate with their solar inverters and remotely adjust their exports down only when needed to stabilise the local network. The smart upgrades we are making to the network mean Endeavour Energy can see where solar exports are impacting the grid in real time, just like Google Maps shows you when there is a traffic jam on your route.
Customers who choose Flexible Exports will be able to export 10kW of excess solar, which is double the current fixed limit (5kW), almost all the time (95%).
Customer benefits of Flexible Exports
Customers can save by exporting more of their excess solar to the grid, supporting our renewable energy future and reliable network services for all customers. Flexible Exports doesn’t affect your ability to consume your own solar energy, which delivers the best value for solar customers. It means you can export back to the grid more of the excess solar that you can’t consume.
Customers with a rated power output of 8kW could save between $40 - $60 annually, while those with a 10kW inverter could save between $100 - $200 a year.
If you are interested in Flexible Exports, please register for our Flexible Exports Trial.
How does Flexible Exports work?
Endeavour Energy uses a secure digital platform to see in real time where excess solar is impacting grid reliability. Our smart grid communicates with participating customers’ solar inverters and adjusts their solar exports down only when necessary to help stabilise the local grid. At almost all other times (95%), customers will be able to export up to the maximum 10kW.
How are we delivering Flexible Exports?
We are upgrading our network’s technology to ensure future solar systems are ready for Flexible Exports. Endeavour Energy is working collaboratively with solar industry partners and technology providers to build a system that can offer Flexible Exports to all export-limited solar customers within our network from 2026.
However, we have the foundations ready and have launched a Flexible Exports Trial. The Trial is currently limited to existing solar customers with single phase power supply and compatible solar inverters.
To find out if you are eligible, customers should read more here.
Enquiries
Please email your enquiry to our Flexible Exports Team at flexible.exports@endeavourenergy.com.au.