I’m running a demand response trial this summer and I’m looking for participants with a home battery. Compensation is up to $200 per household based on participation, and the pilot is targeting 30 places. Importantly, no retailer switching required.
Who I am. James. Founder of a small Melbourne company, Daydream Energy. I’ve spent the last several years building demand response platforms in the US at utility scale. This is a commercial project. The Home Assistant integration will be open source, either from Daydream directly or as a contribution to an existing project (we are not affiliated) (GitHub - grid-coordination/openadr3-ven-hass: OpenADR 3 VEN integration for Home Assistant — real-time energy pricing and GHG emissions from OpenADR 3 VTNs · GitHub).
Survey, Registration of Interest
I am requesting most urgently before 12 August a simple survey registration of interest at www.daydream.energy/sundown.
No commitment! It’s a short survey covering postcode, inverter brand, battery size, whether you’re already in a VPP or running your own control system, and your contact details.
Scope of pilot
Australian home batteries need to be “VPP capable” to qualify for the federal rebate, but roughly 76 per cent of Australian battery owners are not enrolled in a VPP (ACCC, Inquiry into the National Electricity Market, July 2026, data as at 2 January 2026).
- Part of this pilot is to understand why enrollment is so low. In practice the only way to use that capability today is to join a retailer’s VPP, over proprietary protocols, which often means switching retailers. Plenty of people don’t want to do that. Plenty more don’t know how, or don’t know the option exists at all.
- Alongside the usual kW performance metrics, this pilot is focused on the barriers to uptake and enrolment, and on using the open OpenADR 3 standard to dispatch events. I’m posting in the Home Assistant community because for most people here the integration should be straightforward using modules that already exist.
Program parameters
- Up to $200 compensation, based on performance.
- Pilot runs October 2026 to March 2027
- Events triggered by high price, or by a grid constraint or emergency we identify
- Expect about 6 events over summer, capped at 12 hours total for the pilot
- At least one hour of notice, ideally more
- Events run 30 minutes to 2 hours
- You can opt out of any event or the pilot any time. It’s your home, your call!
Geography
We’ve identified a real grid constraint behind this, so the preference is for homes in Tarneit or Truganina in Melbourne’s west, but any home in Australia is genuinely appreciated. Loose priority order:
- Victoria, postcode 3029, specifically Tarneit and Truganina
- Anywhere in Victoria
- Anywhere in the NEM (VIC, NSW, ACT, QLD, SA, TAS)
- Anywhere in Australia
Timeline
- August 2026: register interest and survey systems, ideally before 12 August
- September 2026: enrolment and authorisations
- October 2026 to March 2027: program runs
- April 2027: program report, with per-household performance updates along the way
Enrolment and authorisation.
If enough people register for the pilot to go ahead, I’ll be in touch in September for two integration approvals:
- Events: Install the Home Assistant integration that connects to our OpenADR server and receives event dispatches
- kW Data: Authorise Daydream to receive your home meter energy data from your retailer or distributor, which is what we use to measure event performance. Either by paper Letter of Authorisation with the retailer or distributor, or an approved CDR click-through process. No switching, just data read!
Happy to answer anything, including on the design. The integration is deliberately not going to control your inverter. It hands your automations an event and you decide how to respond, so Predbat, evcc, Amber automations or your own YAML stay in charge.