NEPKI
National Energy Public Key Infrastructure
Australia’s national energy public key infrastructure
NEPKI is Australia’s unified digital identity and secure communication system for the energy industry, promoted by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).
- CSIP-AUS: addresses how devices and the grid communicate, defining communication protocols and interaction rules;
- NEPKI: addresses who the communicating parties are and whether they can be trusted, using digital certificates for identity authentication and encrypted communication.
Through certificates issued by NEPKI, inverters, gateways, aggregators and DNSP/utility servers can communicate securely, preventing unauthorised device access, identity spoofing and data tampering.
NEPKI certificate issuance — current nodes
According to a NEPKI announcement published on 2 July 2026, the relevant DNSPs in New South Wales and South Australia had completed NEPKI integration at the time of publication.
The relevant DNSPs in the Australian Capital Territory, Queensland, Western Australia and Victoria, together with Western Australian energy company Synergy, are expected to integrate with NEPKI in the coming months.
Specific integration dates and scope should be confirmed against the latest announcements from NEPKI, the relevant DNSPs or energy companies.
- From 1 October 2026, CSIP-AUS v1.1a (HB218:2023) is no longer accepted by NEPKI.
- Existing devices must be certified to CSIP-AUS v1.2 (TS5573:2025).
Frequently asked questions
1. What is the difference between CSIP-AUS v1.1 and v1.2? Do old certificates need to be upgraded?
- v1.1a: corresponds to the earlier guideline HB218:2023 and is an early pilot version;
- v1.2: corresponds to the formal technical standard SA TS 5573:2025 and is the current version.
From 1 October 2026, CSIP-AUS v1.1a (HB218:2023) is no longer accepted by NEPKI.
Existing devices must be certified to CSIP-AUS v1.2 (TS5573:2025).
2. Can a device connect to the grid without NEPKI?
For DNSPs that have integrated NEPKI and require NEPKI CSIP-AUS certificates, CSIP-AUS certification alone is generally not sufficient to complete formal communication integration.
OEMs must also complete NEPKI registration and deploy valid certificates.
For DNSPs that have not yet integrated NEPKI, whether NEPKI is required should be confirmed against that DNSP’s latest requirements.
Regardless of whether NEPKI is used, CSIP-AUS certification does not automatically grant grid connection approval.
3. How long does a complete NEPKI integration take?
- With complete documentation and a smooth process, the overall cycle is about 1–2 weeks.
- If multiple device models or complex architectures are involved, the timeline will be longer.
4. Are NEPKI certificates valid nationwide? Must each state be applied for separately?
NEPKI is a nationally unified certificate system. One certificate is recognised by all states and grid operators in Australia that have integrated NEPKI, and no separate state-by-state application is required.
However, DNSPs in different states have minor differences in integration procedures and registration requirements. After obtaining a NEPKI certificate, device registration and commissioning on the DNSP side must still be completed according to the target state’s requirements.
5. What are the common causes of failure during NEPKI integration?
- Incomplete company identity documentation causing verification failure
- CSIP-AUS version not meeting requirements (still v1.1a)
- Incorrect certificate deployment configuration
- Errors in key information such as domain name and PEN
- The device client does not support standard certificate validation mechanisms