Managing distribution networks and enabling DER participation through dynamic network pricing in Australia – Project Edith

Project Edith.

Virtual power plants (VPPs) are where customer agents, including retailers, aggregators, and other service providers, coordinate large fleets of distributed energy resources (DER) and facilitate their participation in wholesale energy markets, ancillary services, and other trading arrangements. This opens opportunities for more advanced pricing signals, creating opportunities for dynamic network pricing (DNP).

Project Edith demonstrates DNP by using real-time network data and short-term forecasting

(weather / load and generation). This method provides low-cost network access most of the time, with higher prices only when network loading nears its limits, whether due to load or exports. Sometimes, prices can be negative, rewarding customers for exports or imports that balance out network peaks. Project Edith uses the Common Smart Inverter Profile – Australia (CSIP-AUS), an implementation guide for IEEE 2030.5, as a communication protocol/application programming interface (API) for prices and Dynamic Operating Envelopes (DOEs).

As of January 2026, around 1200 residential customers are participating through four customer agents, with numbers expected to grow in the coming years. From July 2026,

Ausgrid will move from a restricted pilot program to an on-market tariff, allowing more customer agents to sign up for DNP.

The paper will outline progress in developing the pricing engine, including how network constraints are integrated as a pricing driver and how customer devices respond. It will also cover the expected effects of dynamic pricing on market participation and the journey to maturity.