FAQs—Installers

What is Powston and how is it different from a VPP?

Powston is an independent orchestrated energy trading platform that optimises solar, battery, and appliance usage to maximise customer savings and revenue—without the lock-in or profit skim of a Virtual Power Plant (VPP). Customers keep their battery's profits—Powston isn’t a retailer and doesn’t take a cut. We do the trading—Powston orchestrates charging, discharging, across appliances, based on real-time prices, weather, and usage.

We like to think of ourselves as a new layer in the energy market, built to back customers who invest in batteries. Powston makes our customers system smarter so they keep control and profit.

Which inverter brands do you support? 

Powston supports trusted premium brands who offer premium support to Powston—Sungrow, SAJ, iStore, Sonnen, and some others. Like you, we work with inverter companies who pick up their phone and reply to our support requests. We also work with these companies because they build inverter workhorses. Robust, dependable and fast (responsive) systems are instrumental.

Why do installers love Powston?

Our customers often size up their battery system after seeing results—especially following an energy price spike. At Powston, we're all about everyone winning - our customers and our rockstar installers!

For best results, we recommend 25kWh+ systems. Why? Surplus. Powston needs surplus electricity to trade so customers can profit. Bigger surplus, bigger profit.

How do I install Powston?

Designed to connect via Ethernet to the customer’s modem/router, the device is 'plug and play'. Customers can self-onboard using our installation guide, but we encourage installers to bundle Powston into their battery install and set it up for their customers on day 1.

By day 3 your customers will start to see Powston hitting it's stride. Over those initial days Powston is learning about your customers energy use and applying that knowledge to the energy market.

Who is Local Volts?

Local Volts is the best value wholesale power billing company in Qld, NSW, TAS, ACT and SA. Once you've successfully installed Powston, the customer can switch from their retailer to Local Volts. Other things to check is that your customer has a smart meter sending five minute inverval data and are they getting credits for their exports (e.g. last bill shows they have export earnings). If they have an older meter that does not report exports or time of use, this should be upgraded on their existing retailer before moving. 

Can Powston work without solar?

Yes. Powston can optimise batteries in solar-constrained sites (e.g., heritage homes or apartments). It also enables solar soaker logic and can charge from the grid when prices are low. Most networks encourage this with discounted tariffs.

Do you work with C&I sites? 

Yes. We support sites from 30kW+ and 100kWh+ of battery capacity. For C&I sites, we also offer advanced simulations to size the right battery system (+ solar) and control logic tailored to business use.