“In the 20th century the defining question was – how much of our lives should be governed by the state versus the market? This was answered by economists.

“In the 21st century the fundamental question is - how much of our lives should be governed by technology and under what rules? To answer this question, we need to turn to technologists.”

Bruce Schneier, Harvard Kennedy School

There is much debate on how to encourage technical innovation and at the same time ensure an equitable society. One useful way to approach this issue is through the lens of Public Interest Technology (PIT). 

PIT is an approach to designing and utilising technology for the good of all. The principles of social responsibility such as equity, inclusivity and accessibility are valued in this human-centred approach.

Recent history is peppered with examples of new, disruptive technologies that became runaway success stories and significantly changed the way we interact in modern society. Think Facebook, Airbnb, Zoom, and Uber to name a few. And there is no denying the influential role that technologists such as Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Berners-Lee and Linus Torvald have played and continue to play in shaping modern society. 

PIT is an approach that looks to balance technological innovation with what is in the best interests of all people. In Australia, energy is a public good, it is an essential service that plays a crucial role in the economy and society. Like our water supply, our energy supply is protected and overseen by various regulatory bodies. “Australia has a pretty good regulatory landscape,” says energy innovator and entrepreneur, Phil Blythe. “No one can make a super profit in this space.” 

Industry 4.0: A systems revolution

To appreciate why Public Interest Technology is at its zenith we first need to zoom out a bit. It’s 2026 and we are living in the fourth industrial revolution, or Industry 4.0. A term popularised by Klaus Schwab, the World Economic Forum founder. It is an era characterised by big data, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things. 

But it is the breath-taking speed of change coupled with the sheer scale of change that uniquely defines the fourth industrial revolution. In fact, in the history of humankind there has never been such a phenomenal rate of change disrupting almost every aspect of life across the globe. 

Whereby the first three industrial revolutions made humankind more productive and helped us communicate more quickly, Industry 4.0 is a systems revolution built on ever increasing connectivity and integration. Increasingly we find ourselves living in a digitalised landscape and the energy sector is no exception. 

The energy system is one of the most complex systems, or “system of systems” that most people never have to think about. The energy sector encompasses energy supply and production, electricity and gas infrastructure, markets and retail businesses alongside regulatory, governance and policy bodies. Add to this the fact that Australia, and the world for that matter, is in the midst of an energy transition, a transition in which technologists and technology are playing an increasingly important role, and we begin to scratch the surface of why PIT provides a useful lens through which to have the big conversations. 

The decentralised energy landscape: Enabling integration and interoperability

Across Australia at any given moment, on any given day, millions upon millions of consumer energy resources (CER) are connecting into the electricity grid. More than four million rooftops across Australia have solar panels (that’s the most per capita of any country in the world), add to this exponential growth in home batteries, electric vehicles, and home energy management systems and we get a sense of the sheer scale of CER our energy colleagues are valiantly integrating into the grid.

Words such as “orchestration” “harmonisation” and “symphony” are poetically used to describe the mammoth task that is undertaken by electricity networks to coordinate and control the two-way flows of power in the grid, ensuring that thermal and voltage limits are not breached and that there is enough electricity across the country when and where it is required, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

As the consumer does their best to “electrify everything” our industry colleagues are occupied with the task of “integrating everything.” They know all too well that as the nation moves towards achieving net zero emissions, the electricity sector will be supporting other sectors to decarbonise and they are planning for this, whilst preparing for a staged retirement of fossil fuel generators. 

“We are the envy of the world,” says Phil Blythe. “What Australia is managing to achieve in regard to integrating consumer energy resources into the grid is quite remarkable. We are punching above our weight.” Phil is a seasoned technologist and Executive Director of CAPA Intelligence, a company that provides cyber security solutions for Australia’s energy sector. Prior to this he founded and led GreenSync, a global energy tech company digitally enabling renewable energy resources.

It is fair to say that Australia’s electricity sector has some of the best and brightest public interest technologists, innovating for the greater good. Even if they don’t call themselves by that term, this is an industry that attracts those who are drawn to the challenge of decarbonising our society. A challenge that is not for the faint hearted as it is brimming with complexity.

“I got into this space as I wanted to do some good in the world, and I think most innovators in the Australian electricity sector are here for the right reasons,” said Phil. 

But what about the customer?

In recent years there has been a slew of industry projects trialling novel approaches that allow greater penetration of CER into the system. Take for example Virtual Power Plants (VPPs). A VPP is a network of CER such as home batteries and rooftop solar connected and controlled by smart software. VPPs act like a single power plant that supports the grid and customers are rewarded with financial incentives for their participation. The percentage of households with batteries that choose to participate in Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) has been relatively low. 

The low uptake can be explained in part due to the complexities of the electricity markets and a desire on the part of the homeowner for autonomy. To give you an idea of the complexity, in a VPP arrangement home batteries may be programmed to charge and discharge in response to multiple market signals. To the consumer this may appear like their battery is behaving erratically, sparking confusion at best, at worst the consumer may consider this to be subterfuge. 

Energy consultant Jonathan Leake, from Collaborative Energy, believes that the onus falls on industry to bring the consumer along on the energy transition journey. “Technology is an enabler. Customers shouldn’t have to understand how the technology works and they don’t need to. Industry needs to get better at developing transparent energy products that equitably share the benefits with customers to build trust.” 

“Most VPPs designed today do not do a good job at transparently and equitably sharing the benefits of VPPs with their customers. An exception to this is Amber, they have done well because they have transparency on their app and the customer has control,” said Jonathan. 

Amber, a renewable energy retailer, charges customers a subscription fee for providing access to the wholesale price of electricity. Customers can see the fluctuating real-time price of the wholesale electricity market via an app on their phone and can make energy-related decision based on this information to reduce their energy costs.

VPPs and other innovative mechanisms such as dynamic operating envelopes and dynamic pricing are being rolled out across Australia in efforts to balance social, technical and economic considerations. Enabling these innovations is an important communications protocol called the Common Smart Inverter Profile – Australia, or CSIP-AUS.  

The CSIP-AUS story: A Public Interest Technology exemplar

Enabling the myriad of distributed energy resources (DER) to connect to the energy system requires standardisation and basic rules that stakeholders across Australia can agree upon. In order to standardise the process at a national level, industry, research and government collaborated to establish an open protocol for communication between DERs and utility networks.

“Common technical standards are required so devices can be orchestrated through responses to price signals and grid safety limits,” explains Jonathan.

The DER Integration API Technical Working Group was established in 2019 as a collaboration of Australian energy sector businesses from across the supply chain, including numerous distribution networks, retailers, equipment manufacturers and aggregators. The group now boasts over 100 members, including all Australian networks, all major inverter manufacturers and a wide variety of technology and software providers. 

“What started by SA Power Networks to address unique challenges in South Australia has grown into an industry-wide effort to harmonise DER integration across Australia. Led by industry, we established an open protocol, and we did it collaboratively. The CSIP-AUS ecosystem is mandated by almost all Australian jurisdictions to manage network communications with residential solar to ensure grid stability and open new markets,” said Jonathan.

CSIP-AUS is an example of technology developed in the public interest. It is an open protocol, which avoids the problem of vendor lock-in and it provides a baseline standard upon which other functions can be built, so it doesn’t stifle innovation.

In late 2025 the Federal Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water announced the establishment of a new National Technical Regulator for CER. “This is very welcome news,” says Jonathan. “Industry has been calling out for this for some time. There is strong industry support for CSIP-AUS to come under the remit of the technical regulator to ensure the ongoing safety and interoperability of CER in Australia.”

The national technical regulator will not be established until at least 2027 and in the meantime there is much to be done. Whilst the roll out of CSIP-AUS is a success story, the initial deployment of CSIP-AUS was fragmented and inconsistent. To address this, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) supported the ANU to establish a nationally consistent testing and certification service.

CSIP-AUS testing and certification service

By mid-2026 all CER devices that connect into electricity networks, must be CSIP-AUS compliant, with the exception of Tasmania and the Northern Territory.  

To assist original equipment manufacturers to meet this requirement, the ANU Centre for Energy Systems (ACES) is providing a national testing and certification service. 

Launched in October 2025, the service has been designed as a ‘self-service’ model, enabling original equipment manufacturers to undertake self-directed testing against reference servers, with ACES providing technical support as necessary and providing mandatory ‘witness testing’ to pass certification.

The testing and certification service was the brainchild of ACES senior analyst Laura Jones.

“CSIP-AUS v1.2 is expected to become the mandatory standard in Australia from July 2026. We encourage all original equipment manufacturers and utilities to engage with us early to complete testing and ensure compliance prior to this date,” said Laura.

ACES also offers a server testing and certification service which enables networks to test their own utility servers against a ‘reference server’ to ensure each will be compatible with inverters. 

“We’ve also released a CSIP-AUS Testing and Certification Handbook to support OEMs through the testing and certification process,” said Laura.

What’s on the horizon for energy and PIT? A national approach to cyber security 

The next national endeavour in Australia’s electricity ecosystem is a collective cyber defence strategy. NEPKI, or National Energy Public Key Infrastructure, is a not-for-profit organisation that facilitates secure communications with CER by providing services through the provision of digital PKI certificates.

In effect NEPKI encompasses another PIT ideal, organising at a national scale for the greater good. “NEPKI is a great example of shared infrastructure, rather than doing something 15 times, we do it once,” said Phil Blythe. “We do better when we organise better.

“People tend to be good at organising on a small scale, at the level of a family or a community. “When you get beyond this level we aren’t that great.”

Grid visibility, or lack thereof, is an issue for industry and when it comes to cyber security the more grid visibility the better. To orchestrate the more complicated cyber-physical CER systems requires control and estimation methods to sense, observe and understand the operation of voltage networks, identifying the direction of electricity power flows in near-real time. 

Data that provides a clearer picture of the near real-time workings of the grid is so important as it allows us to detect grid disruption, enhance situational awareness and improve control algorithm design.

NEPKI was founded in 2025 with funding from utility networks and ARENA. 

A rising tide lifts all boats

Our energy system, or system of systems is complex, but we need to bring everyone along on the energy transition journey. The consumer energy resources (CER) in our homes and plugged into the grid form a web of connectivity that can be harnessed for the greater good. 

We have some of the best minds working in this space to enable integration and interoperability of consumer energy resources, guided by PIT principles of equity, inclusivity and accountability. CSIP-AUS is a great example of this. 

Find out more

• CSIP-AUS testing and certification service
• National Energy Public Key Infrastructure (NEPKI)
• CAPA Intelligence
• Social Research Report, VPP trial, Project Symphony 

This story originally appeared on the ANU Centre for Energy Systems website.