Trial to unlock on-farm generation

New electricity billing arrangements are to be trialled which it is hoped will improve the way energy is consumed and generated on Tasmanian farms.

TasNetworks, in partnership with Aurora Energy, is testing new billing arrangements designed to enable primary producers with embedded generation to share the energy they generate with multiple connections on their property, using TasNetworks’ poles and wires.

The aggregated net metering trial, known as FarmShare, aims to maximise customers’ use of the electricity they generate on-farm.

Traditionally, the electricity market relies on each connection to a property being metered and billed separately. 

For most households and businesses with just one connection point this system works well and for many primary producers, the separate billing and metering of each connection on their property works well too.

But for a primary producer with multiple connections on the same property that also has on-site generation, metering and billing each connection in isolation may not be as fruitful.

“The individual metering and billing of each connection can prevent that business from gaining the maximum benefit from the electricity it generates,” TasNetworks spokesperson, Scott Lancaster, said.

“While the primary producer might earn a feed-in tariff for any energy that they export to the grid to be used by other customers, they could potentially reduce their energy costs by more if there was a way to offset those exports against the consumption of electricity at other locations on their property. This is what the trial is set to reveal.”

The FarmShare trial is planned to run for 12 months to provide sufficient time to properly test the experimental billing arrangements and to account for seasonal variations in participants’ energy use and generation.

It aims to see if participants can manage their electricity use in a way that aligns their consumption with their generation to reduce their energy costs.

TasNetworks is now looking for agricultural customers with embedded generation and multiple connections to the power network to take part in the trial.

“We need to set up a small community of primary producers to test-drive the experimental billing arrangements,” Mr Lancaster said.

“It is important to recruit a cross-section of primary producers from around the state to provide diversity in terms of the agricultural activities they are engaged in, their electricity use and the generation they have on their properties.”

Apart from monitoring the impact that the trial billing arrangements have on their electricity costs, FarmShare participants will help TasNetworks and Aurora Energy understand the energy needs of primary producers through their insights and feedback. 

If you are a primary producer and think you might be interested in participating in the FarmShare trial, visit https://talkwith.tasnetworks.com.au/farmshare, complete the short questionnaire and TasNetworks will add you to the register of expressions of interest.