In the country with the highest uptake of rooftop solar, and in the state with the highest rate of solar panel ownership, lies the coastal suburb of Hallett Cove.
Even by South Australian standards, it has a lot of panels. When the sun rises over the Adelaide Hills, its light falls upon a sea of photovoltaic cells, ready to absorb photons and create electricity.
But all this energy generation has created a problem, one that’s hard to see but has far-reaching consequences.
So much electricity is being exported by solar panels to the local grid that it can sometimes overwhelm this network’s capacity.
This “congestion” would usually result in a lower-than-usual cap on the amount of electricity households can export.
But about 18 months ago, the statewide electricity distributor, SA Power Networks (SAPN), trialled an alternative.