Distributed Energy Resources

Distributed Energy Resources (DER) are smaller-scale, customer-owned energy devices that use, generate and store electricity. They include rooftop solar panels, household and community batteries, and electric vehicles.

DER is becoming an essential part of our energy systems, supporting homes and businesses and enhancing flexibility, reliability and sustainability.

Western Australia is a leader in DER take-up and integration.

Rooftop solar provides approximately 20% of the power in the South West Interconnected System (SWIS) and made up just over half of all the renewable energy on the grid in 2025. At the same time, more households are installing batteries, supported by the State Government’s WA Residential Battery Scheme, which provides eligible households with access to rebates and interest-free loans.

This shift is a major win for the energy transition, as it means smarter, cleaner energy powering our homes, businesses and communities. But DER also changes how our systems operate. Instead of electricity flowing one way, from centralised power stations to your home via transmission and distribution networks, it can now flow both ways.

To manage this safely and reliably, our energy systems need to become more coordinated and responsive. This is where Virtual Power Plants play an important role.

Virtual Power Plants bring together thousands of DER devices and coordinate them to support the grid during peak periods, improve reliability and make better use of renewable energy. In doing so, they also create new opportunities for households and businesses to generate value from their energy assets.

To fully harness DER – unlocking benefits while managing complexity – WA has taken a staged approach to DER integration, guided by the State Government’s DER Roadmap.

Early implementation of the initiatives outlined in the Roadmap has focused on areas where DER penetration is already high and where the need to maintain system security is greatest, particularly within the SWIS. Initiatives like Project Symphony have successfully demonstrated that Virtual Power Plants are technically feasible and can safely coordinate large volumes of DER.

This has paved the way for Project Jupiter, a collaboration led by Western Power, Synergy, the Australian Energy Market Operator and Energy Policy WA, supported by funding from the Commonwealth Government’s Australian Renewable Energy Agency. Project Jupiter moves beyond pilots to build the customer engagement, market pathways and technical capability needed to integrate DER at scale across the SWIS through Virtual Power Plants.

As more households and businesses adopt solar, batteries and electric vehicles, more Western Australians are becoming active participants in the energy transition. This means they can generate value from their energy assets while also supporting a more reliable and sustainable energy system.