Community Batteries – Information & Updates
Community Batteries are a low fuss, efficient way to store surplus energy produced by solar and feed this energy back into the grid when demand is high.
Community Batteries are just over the horizon. Victorian trials are underway and the Victorian Government has a new Neighbourhood Battery funding program. You can read more about Yarra Energy Foundation and Citipower/United Energy’s Solar Sponge program here.
Customers will be able to forgo the initial $5-10,000 investment and associated installation required for behind-the-meter storage, in favour of medium scale community batteries, offering a more efficient use of battery technology where power is shared at a local community level. Community batteries will allow more customers to feed into the grid, and also support the grid. They soak up any excess solar power and smooth the flow, improving power reliability and quality to customers.
If you are interested in keeping in touch and receiving quarterly updates please register your interest in the form below.
It is important to realise that community batteries should provide services to the community. They will allow more customers a greater opportunity to export more solar more often, help to manage network demand peaks, manage local voltage network issues and allow sharing of neighbourhood energy.
Community batteries can trade and provide grid services in a number of ways. Although at present achieving economic viability is a challenge, this will improve with increased solar penetration and the general movement of the grid away from a centralised to a more distributed model. Community batteries will help households maximise their roofs, support increased numbers of solar households and electric vehicle charging in local streets. Importantly, a community battery has no individual upfront costs and maintenance is not the responsibility of the household.
Setting up a community battery makes sense with in areas where there are clusters of solar households or more technically where there are network constraints.
A community battery should be something that the whole neighbourhood is proud of and should provide benefits to the community as a whole.
Further Information
Lighter Footprints’ Community Battery Meeting
- You Tube video with directory and chapter points.
- Speakers’ slideset. Meeting image album.
- Thanks to YEF for the video highlights and post.
Yarra Energy Foundation & Citipower/United Energy Collaboration (YESS)
- Community battery launched in Yarra in June, 2022
- Yarra Energy Foundation wins NBI funding for community battery trial
- Yarra Energy Foundation post on new collaboration
- Chris Wallin’s talk for ANU’s BSGIP program including slide set which covers a lot more recent detail about battery operations, the ownership structure, value to the community and householder, and particularly looks at the batteries place in the subnetwork, and ANU’s role in developing the operating software which will become open source.
- Comprehensive Webinar on YESS Project
- YEF webinar slideset
Westernpower (WA) resources
- Announcing 9 Powerbanks for 2021 – quick facts video
- Port Kennedy community battery quick video
- Perenjori Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) video
Victorian Government Neighbourhood Battery Initiative (NBI)
City of Melbourne
- $300k, 5kw Community Battery network to be established
Australian National University
- Short video explainer on ANU Community Battery research & software
- Comprehensive ARENA report on ANU community batteries trial
Lighter Footprints’ Community Batteries initiative is a project of the Energy Transition Group (ETG).
We invite you to register your interest in community batteries on the form on this page- we will keep you updated in this rapidly evolving space and look forward to creating support for community batteries in Boroondara.
You can find out more about the Energy Transition Group on our ETG page here.
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