Flexible Exports Soon For WA Under “Smarter Solar”

Energy Policy WA is consulting on proposed rule changes to kick in early next year that aim to support larger and more small-scale rooftop solar and battery installations in Western Power’s service area through the implementation of flexible solar exports.

What Are The Proposed Smarter Solar Changes For WA?

At this stage, from 1 February 2026¹, Common Smart Inverter Profile – Australia (CSIP-AUS) support will need to be present and enabled when installing new or upgrading existing rooftop solar and battery systems in Western Australia’s southwest grid (SWIS). The SWIS extends from Kalbarri in the north, east to Kalgoorlie, and south to Albany. Western Power operates the SWIS and Synergy is the government-owned electricity retailer.

CSIP-AUS enables smart inverters and energy management systems to work with dynamic/flexible connection options, which allows the remote throttling of exports to the mains grid based on network conditions. Most newer inverters support CSIP-AUS.

While inverters installed since February 2022 are already required to be able to communicate with the electricity network, arrangements for emergency solar management functionality have been limited to remote disconnect/reconnect. Flexible exports provides a more elegant solution.

Those with existing solar panels or batteries will not need make changes to their systems. Inverters replaced with a similar or exact replacement under warranty would also not be affected by the changes.

Internet connection is required for flexible exports, but for new/upgrading solar customers without a connection or with an unstable one, their systems will be subject to a fixed 1.5 kW export limit. The same will apply to new/upgrading customers preferring not to use the CSIP-AUS functionality for flexible exports. Customers with existing systems — including those already with a fixed 1.5 kW export limit — will be able to opt in to flexible exports when it’s available, assuming system compatibility.

The proposed approach is similar to the one used in South Australia says Energy Policy WA. SA Power Networks (SAPN) pioneered flexible exports and its implementation allows a 10 kW export limit, dynamically reducing that limit when required.

I didn’t see a mention of the upper limit for WA flexible exports. Western Power currently has a 5 kW solar inverter limit on single phase, with a 5 kW export limit. On three-phase, there’s a 30 kW inverter limit and 30 kW export limit, with the upper end of the latter rarely granted. Battery inverters do not count towards phase inverter limit.

Why Are The Smarter Solar Changes Needed?

Western Australia’s southwest grid is the world’s biggest isolated power system. Rooftop solar already contributes around half of the renewables-based electricity flowing into it. More than 548,000 small-scale solar systems (<100 kW capacity) have been installed across the state to date.

The level of surplus solar energy flowing into the grid is creating challenges in terms of balancing electricity supply and demand, and in some areas local networks are becoming congested. While home battery uptake will help alleviate this, flexible exports will be an important tool.

“We want to support as many people in Western Australia as possible to benefit from rooftop solar, and for those people to get the maximum benefit from each system,” says Energy Policy WA. “These changes make it possible for installers to continue connecting more and bigger systems to the distribution network without waiting for network capacity upgrades, and for electricity retailers to begin rolling out flexible solar exports.”

Energy Policy WA says the change will also “make it easy” for customers to opt in and out of virtual power plants (VPPs). There’s little VPP choice in Western Australia at the moment, but VPP participation is compulsory under the WA residential battery rebate. But giving a third-party control over their battery has proved to be a deal-breaker for some WA solar owners, who have foregone the state incentive and opted for the national battery rebate scheme only.

For further information on Smarter Solar, Energy Policy WA have published infosheets for solar customers here and solar installers/retailers here.

Other Bits

The proposed rules would also designate Western Power as the distribution system operator (DSO) for networks it operates, and set up a framework for third-party VPP operators to compete for non-contestable electricity customers through Synergy as the parent aggregator.

Energy Policy WA’s exposure draft of the Electricity System and Market Rules can be accessed here, along with instructions for providing feedback. Feedback needs to be submitted before 5:00pm (AWST) Thursday, 20 November 2025.