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Milestone moment: First manufacturer achieves CSIP-AUS v1.2 certification
With the Emergency Backstop Mechanism (EBM) soon-to-be mandated in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, a significant milestone has been achieved on Australia’s energy interoperability journey with the first manufacturer successfully completing CSIP AUS v1.2 certification.
CSIP-AUS enables effective communication between the myriad of consumer energy resources (CER) like rooftop solar inverters and Distributed Network Service Providers (DNSPs). A requirement of EBM is that all grid connected CER devices are enabled so that during periods of system stress authorities can implement temporary measures. CSIP AUS v1.2 (TS5573:2025) facilitates these measures.
The Emergency Backstop Mechanism, introduced by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), provides a last resort safety measure for rare grid emergency conditions. It gives authorities the ability to temporarily reduce or pause solar exports, or curtail rooftop solar generation, during periods of extremely high solar output and unusually low demand—maintaining stability and preventing large scale outages.
The adoption of CSIP-AUS has differed across Australia, depending on the emerging needs and opportunities of different jurisdictions. CSIP-AUS has primarily been utilised by DNSPs to enable Flexible Exports (also referred to as ‘dynamic connections’) or Emergency Backstop.
- South Australia has offered Flexible Exports as an option to customers since 2021, with all inverters required to be compliant from July 2023.
- Queensland has offered Dynamic Connections as an opt-in connection option for customers since late 2022.
- Victoria has mandated that the Emergency Backstop Mechanism is enabled (using CSIP-AUS) on new systems installed from October 2024.
- The Western Australia Government announced that Synergy will use the CSIP-AUS protocol to communicate with assets for the purposes of Virtual Power Plant orchestration, emergency backstop measures and to manage and limit exports to the grid from 2025.
Supporting industry through providing a free national testing & certification service
To help manufacturers meet the new compliance requirements, the ANU Centre for Energy Systems (ACES) launched a testing and certification service in October 2025.
This service allows original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to conduct self-directed testing against reference servers, supported by ACES engineers. Final certification is granted following mandatory witness testing.
ACES also provides a server testing and certification pathway for distributed network service providers, enabling them to verify their own utility servers against a standard reference model—ensuring interoperability across Australia’s diverse energy landscape.
“The value of a nationally consistent testing and certification service is that it reduces cost and effort for manufacturers and streamlines the process for getting products approved across Australia,” said Laura Jones, ACES Lead Analyst and architect of the testing and certification service.
“Since launching the service, we’ve conducted more than 13,000 tests but there is a long way to go before Emergency Backstop becomes mandatory. We strongly encourage all OEMs and utilities to engage with us early so they can complete testing and achieve compliance ahead of the mid 2026 deadline.”
Solinteg becomes first fully certified manufacturer
Congratulations to Solinteg, the inverter and storage technology company on becoming the first original equipment manufacturer to achieve full CSIP AUS v1.2 certification. With technical support from GreenSync, Solinteg successfully completed certification earlier this year—marking an important step toward a more interoperable, resilient energy future.
“Becoming the first manufacturer to achieve full CSIP-AUS v1.2 certification under the Emergency Backstop framework is a significant milestone for Solinteg in Australia. It reflects our long-term commitment to supporting a secure, interoperable and future-ready distributed energy system,” said Claire Guo, Head of Solinteg Academy.
“The transition toward mandatory Emergency Backstop requirements marks an important evolution in how distributed energy resources integrate with the grid. Certification under TS5573:2025 strengthens our ability to deliver inverters that not only perform efficiently for customers, but also respond reliably when system-level support is required.
“We are grateful for the professional guidance provided by ACES throughout the testing process and for the technical collaboration with GreenSync, whose expertise in DER communication and grid integration helped ensure a smooth and rigorous certification journey. The structured national testing framework provides clarity and consistency, which is essential as the industry moves toward mid-2026 compliance," said Claire Guo.
What’s the process for OEMs?
To learn more about testing and certification, visit:
Email: csipaus-cert@anu.edu.au
This story originally appeared on the ANU Centre for Energy Systems. View the original article here.
