New studies by the Federal Energy Security Board and University of New South Wales (UNSW) have shown that network voltages are frequently above the upper limit of what is the safe allowable voltage level legislated by the government. This limit is prescribed under the Australian Standard AS4777.
High voltage on the networks is causing over 2 million residential solar and battery systems to reduce output and frequently shut down completely for long periods of the day. This is done to protect the grid from customers feeding in power at dangerously high voltages. However, the system is fundamentally flawed. Even when you are using all your solar generation and your system is exporting nothing to the grid, it is shut down because the electricity network is already running the voltages on the grid too high. This is called “voltage lockout”.
Seems unfair, doesn’t it?
The recent ABC 7.30 report on ‘Powerlines may be limiting savings Australians can make from solar, UNSW research suggests,’ exposes the damaging effects high voltage is having on Australian solar systems and the very high number of customers affected. Please follow the link below.
Until now no-one has been able to accurately and safely control voltage at the home, while still complying with the regulated AS4777 standard on controlling export voltages to the grid.
EdgeIQ has been developed by Edge Electrons, a Melbourne based energy technology company. The device uses proprietary smart software algorithms to regulate dangerously high voltages and maximise your solar and battery production. Using state of the art electronics, we read you power supply 20,000 times a second and dynamically regulate the voltage from the grid so your home and solar only ever sees a constant regulated 230 volts (we even give you the option to reduce voltage to 220 volts if you want to save more).
When it comes to exporting back to the grid, the EdgeIQ actively calculates the actual voltage at the pole, not the higher voltage at the switchboard. We can do this because we know the grid has a fractional impedance, so we use software-driven electronics and proprietary algorithms to calculate impedance based on different levels of usage and solar generation. Often impedance, or resistance, on your mains connection is very high and causes voltage at the house to rise which makes your inverter shut down unnecessarily. We use this impedance data to adjust the export voltage from your home to compensate for any voltage drop across the mains connection line.
We ensure that no power passing through the point of mains connection to the grid is outside AS4777 regulated standards, but we guarantee your solar and battery system will not be switched off unnecessarily.
Consistent high voltages are hazardous and will degrade or even destroy home appliances. When we record consistently high grid voltages, the EdgeIQ restricts power exports and assists customers by reporting accurate data to network operators, and regulators, on voltages that exceed regulatory limits.
Our proprietary energy monitoring software will also provide customer alerts when there is a potential safety hazard with corroded or disconnected neutral wiring.
EdgeIQ globally patented technology is the most accurate and safest voltage regulating system available and has been comprehensively reviewed by Energy Safe Victoria.
Edge’s range of domestic and commercial solutions for real-time monitoring, voltage control, and power factor correction are built to work alongside solar to maximise energy savings and improve power quality issues for Australian homes and businesses.
Find out more about our voltage optimising technology today!