Gong for helping small players sell power

An energy innovation that helps small businesses, farms, and local councils save on bills and earn an income from spare power has been recognised with an award.

Melbourne-based South Street Energy won the "sustainability and environmental solution" gong at the 2022 Victorian iAwards held at the State Library of Victoria on Monday night.

Linking in the smaller generators is key to increasing renewable energy sources in the national grid to 82 per cent by 2030.

South Street Energy's network enables people running small-scale solar, wind and biogas generation systems to sell renewable electricity into the spot electricity market when demand is high.

"We've pulled together existing industry processes to create an entirely new way to participate in the market," South Street Energy boss Marco Bogaers said on Tuesday.

He said the system makes sure the energy is sold into the area that is paying the highest price, increasing the value of renewable electricity and helping customers with their own electricity bills.

Orange City Council in NSW is among those looking to insulate themselves against rising costs.

The network links together generators that would be too small for electricity market registration on their own.

The council's solar installations at its Aquatic Centre, Civic Centre, and local Airport were installed in late 2021 and added to South Street Energy's network.

Council CEO David Waddell said the simple system "demystified renewables" and should encourage others.

"It is a huge win," he said.

"It helps the national electricity market by providing a demonstrable mechanism for participation by small scale, renewable generators."

The iAwards are presented by the Australian Information Industry Association, an industry body that has previously recognised Atlassian, Wotif and WiseTech Global.