The rising number of solar rooftop installations is creating concerns that too much energy is flooding into the electricity grid, and could cause blackouts as the system struggles to control the excess power.
"Solar spill", when high levels of energy are generated by rooftop installations in the middle of the day when demand is low, is becoming a problem for Australia’s electricity networks, according to Andrew Dillon from Energy Networks Australia.
"If this goes badly, we get voltage and frequency issues at the local level or even localised blackouts and things tripping off," he said.