Virtual Power Plants (VPPs)
There are numerous Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) available in Australia. Some are much more compelling and consumer-focused than others. If you’re considering installing a battery and you like the idea of joining a VPP, we usually suggest clients choose Amber Electric as their energy provider and running their solar and battery storage system in conjunction with their specialised software, called SmartShift™.
What is SmartShift™?
- your energy usage profile
- your solar generation
- forecast wholesale energy prices
A simple app allows you to monitor and manage your home’s energy usage. You can check this 24/7.
How SmartShift™ saves you money
SmartShift™ ensures your battery charges and discharges at optimal times, maximising the value you get from your system and drastically reducing the payback period of your battery.
When the grid is under stress and a premium is being paid for energy exported back to the grid, your battery can be discharged to earn you extra non-taxable income. At other times, your battery can be charged with cheap or even free energy.
Using SmartShift(tm), you can get paid as much as $19/kWh* (yes, nineteen dollars – that’s not a typo!) for any surplus solar energy you export to the grid.
You can either choose to go fully automated (where Amber makes smart decisions on your behalf) or you can take control of your battery charging, discharging or preserving energy for a certain period. The choice is yours.
See what it’s like to be a SmartShift™ user here.
Battery storage size
If you join a VPP and you want to make money from your batteries, it makes sense to install additional battery storage capacity (and potentially more solar). This is so you have enough stored energy to cover your late afternoon/evening/overnight/ morning usage and also send surplus back to the grid when demand is high. If you go down this path, you’ll want a minimum 14kWh of battery storage; ideally 20kWh, though it does depend on your unique household’s energy usage profile, which we’ll assess before making a clear recommendation to you on battery sizing.
By joining a VPP, you’ll typically hasten the payback of a battery by around 20%.
NSW VPP rebate
The NSW government is offering up to $1500 rebate to any households that install batteries and choose to join a VPP. This is on top of the Federal government battery rebate on offer. You can only get the NSW or Federal government rebates once, so if you install one battery now and then wait another year before installing another, you’ll only get the rebate on the first battery.
What does it cost?
To access SmartShift™, you pay Amber a $22/month subscription fee. In return, you get 100% of the benefits of exporting your stored energy to the grid at optimal times.
There are no application fees, lock-in contracts, or exit fees.
In the event of a negative feed-in tariff (where you’d otherwise get charged for sending solar back to the grid), Amber has clever software that blocks exports at these times**, so you’re never penalised.
If you’d like to join Amber Electric, you can do it via this page. Once you sign up to Amber, you’ll then be offered the chance to join SmartShift™ ***.
* $19/kWh is the most you can be paid for your surplus solar energy when there are price spikes on the wholesale energy market and the grid needs your power. It’s not always this lucrative, but Amber’s standard Feed-In Tariff is still considerably more than what standard energy retailers are able to offer.
** This is available with selected inverters and batteries. If you already have solar, let us know the make and model of your existing inverter and we can let you know if export blocking is possible. With all the new systems that we recommend to clients, export blocking is possible.
*** Not all inverters and batteries are compatible with SmartShift™. You might want to check out this guide to get a better understanding of the technologies that work seamlessly with the SmartShift™ software.