Essential Energy and CSIRO are partnering to trial vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology to better understand how to integrate it as part of a home energy management system. 

The collaboration will see Australia's national science agency and one of the country’s largest electricity distribution networks develop a V2G capability that replicates a home of the future, linking smart energy appliances and the battery of an electric vehicle (EV).

CSIRO Transport Electrification team lead, Kate Cavanagh says V2G will become more desirable as customers seek better value from their rooftop solar and the storage from their EV battery.

“V2G technologies have enormous potential and they’re going to play a big part in the future electricity system, but at the moment our understanding of how they might work in the Australian context is limited,” Kate says.

“Our project is set in regional Australia, and we are using real household appliances in a laboratory setting to provide a range of realistic and controllable household types and scenarios to test out V2G.”

Close up of V2G connection.

Essential Energy has designed and fully equipped a ‘residential house of the future’ in its Innovation Hub at Port Macquarie. The house has a range of customer energy resources such as solar panels and batteries with fully controllable appliances including a fridge, dishwasher, dryer, lights, television, pool pump, hot water system, dishwasher and air-conditioning.

V2G technology operates through a bidirectional charger that allows a two-way exchange of energy between the car, the home and the grid. This enables the EV to become a mobile energy storage system that can capture excess renewable energy when it’s abundant – when the sun is shining and rooftop solar panels are generating surplus power – and supply energy back to the home or the grid during peak demand times.

The Innovation Hub is trialling how to integrate V2G technology where the stored energy in an EV is used as part of the home energy management while assisting the network during times of peak power demand.

Essential Energy Chief Operating Officer, Luke Jenner says using a bidirectional charger can transform EVs from being just a vehicle into part of the future energy solution.

“Trialling V2G technology is an important part of supporting customers to gain better value from their rooftop solar and electric vehicle batteries,” Luke explains.

“V2G technology also has the potential to lower costs for all customers by helping to optimise the flow of energy throughout the network, offsetting the need for additional investment in the network.”

Senior Research Engineer at CSIRO’s Newcastle Energy Centre and technical lead for the collaboration with Essential Energy, Dr Sam Behrens says the trial can highlight the benefits of owning an EV.

“At the moment you can buy a battery and connect it to your home, but those batteries have small storage capacities compared to an EV which has as much as five times more storage,” Sam explains. 

“If you use your EV to store solar energy as it is generated during the day, you can then use that for night-time electricity needs. It can also be used to support the grid, enhancing reliability and resilience by flattening peak loads.” 

Kate Cavanagh (CSRIO), Brad Trethewey (Essential Energy) and Sam Behrens (CSRIO) at the Innovation Hub.

V2G technology currently has limited availability for EV owners in Australia. Customers attempting to connect their V2G charger to the grid may encounter regulatory challenges, including complying with current Australian standards. 

The CSIRO–Essential Energy trial aims to understand how the technology can be integrated into buildings and the broader grid by identifying potential obstacles that could impede its progress as a widely used energy resource for households and businesses. 

By using resources and loads that are fully controllable, the research team can replicate different household profiles and scenarios. This enables a range of experiments to be conducted on electricity usage patterns, charge and discharge behaviours, and network stability. 

A 2023 ARENA report described bidirectional charging as one of the largest potential enablers of Australia’s energy transition, which indicates just how important this technology will be over the coming decades. 

Research projects that are tailored to its specific context – in terms of electricity generation and storage, power grids, and technical and regulatory standards are crucial to the successful roll out of this type of technology in Australia.

The findings of this CSIRO–Essential Energy project may play a key role in those efforts.

“The trial helps Essential Energy prepare the network for the house of the future that will have electric vehicles with the capability, through bidirectional chargers, to power homes and the grid,” Luke says.

“The collaboration between CSIRO and Essential Energy will help to develop energy-efficient products and services for customers to support them through the energy transition and to trial user-friendly ways to manage home electricity usage.”