We understand that experiencing negative Feed-in-tariffs (FiTs) during the Spring/Summer months can be frustrating. Head here to understand why the FiT can be occasionally negative or extremely low.
Our product and technology teams have been working hard to find smart solutions, for helping our solar customers manage negative FiT.
Our Solar Curtailment product, which allows us to direct your inverter to reduce or eliminate excess solar generation from your system during periods when feed-in tariffs are negative, is now available for many of our customers.
Whilst we’re very excited about bringing these benefits to our solar customers, we acknowledge solar curtailment is a new product feature with some integrations in the beta stage and ask for your patience as we navigate any hardware or device compatibility issues that may arise.
Achieving this requires integration with every solar inverter being used by our customers. We’re pressing ahead by prioritising integration with the inverter brands most commonly-owned by our customers which have the potential to allow for solar curtailment during periods of negative FiT.
You do not require a battery to be enrolled in solar curtailment with Amber, we can just enrol your solar inverters.
1. Who’s eligible for solar curtailment (overview)
At this stage SmartShift™ solar curtailment is available for the following set-ups:
- SolarEdge solar inverters with a consumption meter (What is a consumption meter?)*
- AlphaESS battery systems (DC coupled only)
- Sungrow systems (full compatibility list available here)
- Fronius solar inverters (single inverters only, full compatibility list available here)
- Growatt and Goodwe: curtailment coming soon! (Join our waitlist here)
Please see Section 3 for specific compatibility criteria and curtailment types depending on your solar (and battery) system set-ups. If you don't yet have an eligible inverter head to Section 5.
2. How to enrol for solar curtailment
If you have a compatible system and would like to take advantage of solar curtailment, enrol your inverter for solar curtailment via the Amber app.
- Head to the Devices tab in the Amber app
- Click on “Enroll solar and/or battery” under “Add a device”
- Select your inverter type
- Provide the details requested in the registration form
- Check out our Enrolment FAQs if you have any issues
Note: It can take between a couple of days to 2 weeks to enrol your system once you enter your details, depending on what type of system you have so we recommend enroling soon if you would like to take advantage of this over the spring and summer period. Learn more here.
3. SmartShift™ Solar curtailment eligibility criteria (expanded)
a. Solar curtailment without a battery for customers with SolarEdge, Fronius and Sungrow inverters
- SolarEdge inverters with a SolarEdge consumption meter
- Fronius solar inverters (single inverters only, full compatibility list available here)
- Select Sungrow inverters, read more here.
Depending on your set up we can either provide load-following curtailment, or on/off curtailment. Generally if your inverter has a consumption meter that measures your house load (how much energy you're using in your home) you will be able to have load-following curtailment.
To learn more about consumption meters and how to check if you already have one head here: What is a (solar or battery) consumption meter?
b. Customers with SolarEdge inverter and a SolarEdge consumption meter, SolarEdge inverter with LG Chem battery, a DC-coupled Alpha ESS battery, or a Sungrow battery with a single hybrid inverter
Solar curtailment will be auto-enabled within the Amber app when you join Amber for Batteries.
SmartShift will look at how much you’re exporting during periods of negative FiT and reduce your solar generation by that amount, matching generation to your household consumption. So if you’re generating 10kw of solar energy, and your house is consuming 8kw and exporting two, your generation will be reduced to 8kw when you enable solar curtailment.
Solar curtailment will only see your solar curtailed during periods of negative FiT. During times when the FiT is above zero, your excess solar will be exported to the grid as usual even with solar curtailment toggled “on”.
See the above for a screenshot of the Settings section of the app where you can enable solar curtailment.
c. Sungrow battery customers with two hybrid inverters
The “load following” curtailment described above will only work if you have a single hybrid inverter. If you have two inverters, curtailment will look more like what is described below for Tesla customers with SolarEdge inverters, or Hybrid Alpha ESS customers.
That is, during periods of negative FiT, customers with curtailment enabled will see their solar generation switched off entirely (no solar generation) rather than matched to their household energy demand.
When this curtailment occurs, there is a minor lag in restarting the inverters once the FiT is no longer in negative territory (around 2 minutes).
d. Tesla with SolarEdge, Sungrow or Fronius inverter, Hybrid Alpha ESS customers
Solar curtailment for hybrid Alpha ESS batteries works a little differently to how it does with those listed above. In this case, SmartShift will curtail your solar (eliminating exports during periods of negative FiT) only when your battery is fully charged.
If your solar system is capable of generating more energy than your battery can store, and you are not able to consume all of that power within your home at the time, that excess will be exported to the grid for a negative FiT.
For most customers this is unlikely to be a problem that will occur. For example, if you have a 5kW battery and a 5kW solar inverter, this problem is unlikely.
However, if you have a Tesla Powerwall and a 3 phase solar system you may be generating up to 3 times more power than your battery can store at any given time and this additional energy will get sent to the grid. We are working on a solve for this issue at present, with more updates coming.
However, once your battery is fully charged, curtailment will work as described in the section above (for Solar Edge, SolarEdge with LG Chem, DC-coupled Alpha ESS and Sungrow battery customers)
Note: If you have a Tesla Powerwall + SolarEdge, Sungrow or Fronius inverter please enter the battery details during registration with Amber, and once that registration is complete add you inverter details from the "Add a device" setting in your SmartShift settings.
4. How do I check my curtailment status?
Head to the SmartShift Settings in your Amber app to check if Automated Solar Curtailment is enabled.
5. I don’t have an eligible inverter
The inverters listed above are the most popular inverter brands in the market, which is why we’ve focused our efforts on developing compatibility with them first and foremost. If your inverter isn’t one of the ones indicated above, tell us which one you have and we’ll notify you when we’re able to offer solar curtailment for your inverter.
Village Energy smart plug for Fronius, SMA and Huawei customers
If you have multiple Fronius inverters (Amber can currently only support one Fronius inverter), Huawei or SMA inverter, we recommend buying a curtailment device from Village Energy $199. You can get 10% off with the code 10FORME.
CatchPower curtailment device
Another option to curtail solar without an eligible system is the CatchPower curtailment device which will cost around $500-$1000. Find out more about compatibility on their website here.
Offgrid mode for Tesla battery customers
Going offgrid is an option to minimise exports during negative FiT if you have a Tesla Powerwall. Going offgrid effectively isolates the battery from the grid, making it impossible for it to export during periods of negative FiT. Offgrid mode can be enabled via the Tesla app.
There are only certain conditions in which it’s possible and advisable to use Offgrid mode to counter solar exports during negative FiT.
- Your battery will only go offgrid if it is not full, as otherwise there will be nowhere for your solar energy to go.
- By contrast, it’s not advisable to enable offgrid mode if the battery is very low. If clouds come over, delaying your battery from charging from your solar, it’s possible you could run out of power.
- A single Tesla Powerwall has a max 5kw charge rate. This means if your solar inverter is more than 5kw it may not be advisable to go offgrid. If you try to charge your Powerwall at more than 5kw it will perform a reset/trip and then reset, and you will without power for a short period. For example, going offgrid may work with a 6kw inverter if you're using 1kw or more of energy at the time.
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Offgrid Mode only curtails solar production for a single phase solar inverter. If you have a three phase solar inverter going into off-grid mode will island the household to run off batteries, but the three phase solar inverters will continue to operate and export all solar production to the grid.
If you do want to try out Offgrid mode as a means of curtailing exports during periods of negative FiT, we recommend looking for the earliest point in time when FiTs turn negative, then enable offgrid mode. This is one way to ensure you charge up your battery and reduce your solar exports.
Offgrid mode will be automatically disabled by your Powerwall at any time that your household load exceeds what’s available from your solar and battery.
6. Solar curtailment interacting with EV or battery charging
EV owners
Note: Times when FITs turn negative are the best times to charge your car. We recommend temporarily disabling solar curtailment during this time and re-enabling it once you've finished.
This is because solar-aware chargers such as Charge HQ, MyEnergy Zappi, Fronius Wattpilot and SolarEdge EV charger look for export and then match charging to that export power. If SmartShift is curtailing your solar during periods of negative FiT these charging solutions see no exports and will not charge.
If your battery doesn’t charge
If you turn on solar curtailment in the app and you notice that your battery isn’t charging when you have curtailment switched on, please contact Amber for Batteries support team on smartshift@amber.com.au.
In the meantime, keep an eye out for more updates on how we're helping customers reduce solar exports during periods of negative FiT.
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