Australia’s national science agency CSIRO has been awarded the 2026 International Smart Grid Action Network (ISGAN) Award of Excellence for showcasing innovation in helping electricity networks support higher levels of rooftop solar integration.
As countries around the world rethink how electricity systems operate, Australia’s renewable energy experience offers valuable lessons on how customer-generated energy from rooftop solar can be integrated into the grid efficiently and reliably.
A case in point is the work on Dynamic Operating Envelopes, which facilitate flexible export to the grid of energy from rooftop solar. The work was recently recognised with the 2026 International Smart Grid Action Network (ISGAN) Award of Excellence.
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“This award recognises years of collaboration to solve a common challenge as electricity systems adapt to increasing levels of distributed renewable energy,” CSIRO senior research scientist Dr Nanduni Nimalsiri said.
The casebook submission from CSIRO reflects a broad Australian effort involving industry, universities and research organisations. It brings together these different experiences and shares Australia’s Dynamic Operating Envelope (DOE) journey with an international audience. The submission was selected for the award from a wide range of smart grid nominations representing projects from 10 different countries.
“Australia has one of the highest rates of rooftop solar adoption in the world. On sunny days, homes and businesses can generate more electricity than they need and export the surplus back to the grid,” Dr Nimalsiri said.
But there is a catch. In some areas, local electricity networks can only accept a limited amount of solar exports at certain times.
Traditionally, electricity networks have managed this challenge by setting fixed export limits, restricting how much solar energy customers can send back to the grid regardless of whether additional capacity might be available.
Using a technique known as a Dynamic Operating Envelope, export limits can change throughout the day in response to actual network conditions. These are also referred to as ‘flexible export limits’ or ‘dynamic connection arrangements’.
When there is spare capacity on the network, solar customers can export more electricity. When the network is under pressure, export levels can be reduced temporarily to maintain reliability.
“Think of it as a variable speed limit for solar exports,” Dr Nimalsiri said.
“Australia’s experience with DOEs shows that we can get more value from the electricity network we already have while supporting the continued growth of rooftop solar.
“Rather than relying on fixed limits, we’re using real-time information to better match solar exports with available network capacity. That means customers can export more clean energy when the network can accommodate it, while maintaining reliability for everyone.”
DOEs are enabled by the Common Smart Inverter Profile-Australia (CSIP-AUS), a communication standard that allows electricity networks and customer-owned energy devices, such as solar inverters, to securely ‘talk to each other’.
Working quietly in the background, CSIP-AUS allows electricity networks to share dynamic operating limits with customers’ solar inverters and other energy devices, helping them adjust their operation according to available network capacity, without customers needing to constantly monitor or adjust their systems.
One of the pioneering demonstrations of this standards-based DOE approach was the Flexible Exports for Solar PV Trial.
CSIRO contributed to the research, modelling and technical validation underpinning DOEs and supported industry collaboration around the development and deployment of CSIP-AUS.
“Australia’s experience with Dynamic Operating Envelopes shows how smarter, more transparent network operations can help unlock more value from rooftop solar,” Dr Nimalsiri said.
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“By making better use of available capacity, we can enable more clean energy exports without major infrastructure upgrades.”
With many countries grappling with how to integrate growing numbers of customer-owned distributed energy resources like rooftop solar, Australia’s experience offers valuable lessons for the advancement of smart grids worldwide.
