The Australian Energy Market Operator has signed up for 200MW of demand response capacity, creating a “virtual power plant” twice the size of the Tesla Big battery to deal with heatwaves and supply failures – and prevent blackouts – in the heat of summer.

The result of the much awaited demand response tender will see 143MW made available this coming summer, and the rest by 2020, in a crucial addition to AEMO’s ability to meet extreme demand peaks and supply shortfalls, and transition the grid to a smarter, faster and cleaner machine.

The projects feature a range of monitoring, control and storage technologies, to be installed in homes, businesses and large manufacturers, who will be paid to moderate demand, or switch their use to a different time.

This new “virtual power plant” will add to the Tesla big battery being built in South Australia – in total it will be effectively twice the size – and other measures put in place to ease the strain on the grid created by the recent closure of Hazelwood brown coal power generator.

The tender, funded by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and the NSW government, was won by 10 different pilot projects – out of 26 shortlisted – mostly through commercial and industrial customers, who will get paid for reducing their demand at critical times.