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The changes in the state environmental planning policy (infrastructure) of New South Wales in 2007 will enable larger solar systems to be installed in homes and businesses without the need for parliamentary approval.

It was announced on Friday that the policy amendment will also enable distributed network service providers (DNSP) to build energy storage facilities and allow large-scale battery systems to be built in certain areas of the state.

"Our planning system plays a key role in promoting investment in innovative renewable energy projects across the state," said Rob Stokes, Minister of Planning and Public Space. "These changes ensure that planning requirements are aligned with technological advancements and enable emerging energy projects to be carried out through the planning system more effectively."

Energy Secretary Matt Kean also praised these changes, noting:

"New South Wales residents are accepting renewable energy. About 490,000 households and small businesses are saving energy costs by installing small solar energy. These amendments will support this trend to continue."

It seems that Minister Keane's figures are a bit outdated. The latest information from the clean energy regulator indicates that more than 551,000 small solar power systems have been installed in New South Wales.

The ability to install larger homes or small commercial solar systems or expand existing systems without going through the Parliamentary approval process is a good thing, but there are still potential obstacles for some people. The DNSP of New South Wales also has restrictions on the system capacity allowed on its network.

The following are the current restrictions, taken from the grid connection process part of SQ:

Three-phase: 15 kW inverter limit, 15 kW output limit.

*Rural areas: 3 kW inverters per phase/export restrictions*.

Battery inverters do not count towards the phase inverter limit.

Three-phase: 30 kW inverter limit, 30 kW output limit.

Ausgrid "may" allow the battery inverter to exceed the overall inverter limit.

Three-phase: 30 kW inverter limit, 30 kW output limit.

Battery inverters do not count towards the phase inverter limit.

This is a good situation if you use three-phase, but for those who use single-phase (ie most households) in the Essential Energy and Endeavor Energy areas, if you are considering a very large system, then Not so good anymore. But even with a 5kW solar inverter, only 6.6kW solar panels can be installed, which is more than enough for many families. This is called oversize, and it is not only allowed but also desirable.

Ronald discusses the 6.6kW system in more detail in this article, as well as some (possibly) ways to circumvent the above restrictions. In a related note, Finn discussed three-phase connections and three-phase inverters in this article.

Michael discovered solar problems after purchasing components to assemble a small off-grid photovoltaic system in 2008. Since then, he has been covering Australian and international solar energy news.

I have a 10kW system on the Ausgrid network in Sydney. We currently use Origin's 21c FIT, but it will end soon, so I have been shopping around. Suppliers such as Click Energy & Amaysim told me that they do not accept customers with solar systems over 7kW or 8kW. Does anyone know where I can find a list of suppliers that accept customers with 10kW systems so that I can compare actual quotes. Does this apply to me?

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