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Case Study

Company

National Renewable Network

Website https://nrn.com.au/ Industry

Solar

Location

Australia

M2M supports NRN to achieve gold standard solar connectivity compliance and connectivity across national solar network

Deploying solar networks at scale requires reliable solar connectivity compliance. Beyond delivering rooftop energy, projects must meet strict CSIP-AUS compliance and dynamic export limit rules, monitored 24/7 by regulators. To address these challenges, the National Renewable Network (NRN) partnered with M2M Connectivity to deliver compliant connectivity, combining market-leading hardware, IoT expertise, and LTE solar networks.

At the forefront of solar adoption

NRN is a fast-growing startup at the forefront of how consumers access renewable energy. The company is Australia’s first provider of solar and battery systems with no upfront costs – offering a unique approach compared to finance schemes and Power Purchase Agreements. Their network of solar and battery systems includes simple 6KW (solar) + 9.6KW (battery) residential installations through to complex 74KW (solar) + 35KW (battery) commercial installations with integrated EV charging. NRN has scaled quickly over the past two years. In 2024 it secured $10 million in early funding to drive growth, and this month closed a $67 million Series A, a mix of equity and debt, alongside a new partnership with Alinta Energy, which has already launched a retail plan on the NRN platform. The company has also secured new partnerships with energy retailers and launched innovative technologies, including a Virtual Power Plant solution – making reliable connectivity ever more critical.

Keeping pace with demand

Rapid growth has presented NRN with several challenges. This includes how to keep pace with the manufacture and supply of communication units.

“In the early days we were assembling each unit by hand. This included sourcing routers and SIM cards and integrating them onsite before they were shipped to the customer and installed,” says Ian Waight, Head of Operations at NRN.

“When we were commissioning small numbers of units this was sustainable but over time it became less and less efficient,” adds Ian.

NRN’s Link communications unit provides connectivity for both customers and energy retailers. It provides communications, metering and control. Control is critical to managing the flow of energy into the Grid and meeting state-based Dynamic Export Limit (DEL) and CSIP-AUS compliance regulations.

Demand for these units has grown from one to hundreds of units a week, making in-house sourcing, integration and manufacture unsustainable.

Powering growth

NRN took a proactive approach to address this challenge. Firstly, the company appointed a commercial circuit board builder. Secondly, NRN chose to partner with M2M Connectivity to supply both the hardware and SIMs to power their communication units.

Understanding NRN’s solar connectivity compliance challenge and its growth trajectory, M2M Connectivity sought to deliver the most reliable and compliant connectivity possible while minimising the burden of manual installation or integration for NRN. In a matter of weeks, M2M delivered the final solution.

M2M Connectivity combined a market-leading router with an M2M One SIM card and pre-commissioned each unit. Additionally, NRN was given access to the M2M One Control Centre giving them the ability to monitor, maintain, and automate SIM management and data use with real-time insights, alerts, dynamic export limit and diagnostics.

solar connectivity compliance

Achieving a gold standard

Through its partnership with M2M, NRN has deployed over 600 new communication units over 12 months, across Australia and met solar compliance standards in each State.

“M2M are the gold standard for IoT solar adoption in Australia,” says Waight

“They have helped us simplify how we deploy our units and enhanced connectivity for our customers and partners through the supply of market-leading hardware and SIMs. In our business connectivity is critical. We are grateful to M2M for the value they have added in helping us to grow and prepare for future growth,” adds Ian.

solar connectivity complianceNRN is now in a strong position to take the next step in its connectivity evolution. As the company expands, it has the peace of mind that it has the proper hardware to support its customers and meet maturing compliance standards.

Critically, it can focus on its mission of making renewable energy more affordable and accessible to all Australians.Ready to future-proof your fleet’s connectivity?

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