New digital toolkit to test energy market innovations

The Energy Innovation Toolkit is now live and open to businesses seeking to test innovative technologies, approaches, business models, products and services in the Victorian energy market.

The Energy Innovation Toolkit supports the development of innovative technologies that can help to deliver new energy products and services to Victorian energy consumers . The toolkit offers useful guidance on energy regulations and frameworks, and facilitates trials, through a regulatory sandbox in a controlled setting, to help understand whether permanent changes to particular energy rules would benefit consumers.

Since June we have had powers to grant time-limited waivers from existing rules to businesses that sell, supply, generate or transmit electricity or sell or supply gas. This enables businesses to trial new innovations in the Victorian energy market.  

To support this work, in June we released a guideline for businesses wanting to test out new ideas in Victoria by applying for a trial waiver, using the toolkit. It provides Victorian-specific guidance to innovators on the requirements to obtain a trial waiver in Victoria.

The guideline sets out the commission’s proposed approach, as well as the information and process requirements that it will consider for trial waiver applications. It also explains how decisions on trial waiver applications will be made.  Anyone that is considering whether their projects are suitable for a trial waiver are encouraged to read this guideline.

The Energy Innovation Toolkit is an initiative led by the Australian Energy Regulator and supported by the Australian Energy Market Operator, Australian Energy Market Commission, the Essential Services Commission of Victoria, and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.