Your smoke detector may be at risk if solar power is turned off during sunny days to protect the grid, experts say

High voltage required to use Aemo's emergency backstop is a bit like stopping a car by driving into a tree, Vince Garrone says

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This week's call by the Australian Energy Market Operator for emergency backstop" mechanisms to switch off rooftop solar systems brings safety risks, because the high voltages needed exceed the limits that many appliances have safely been tested for.

That's according to Vince Garrone, former power quality manager at Energex, Queensland's biggest electricity distributor who called the situation ironic. Authorities, in using brute force" to trip inverters, were creating the very high voltage conditions the device protection was designed to prevent.

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