A battery the size of four refrigerators installed in north Melbourne is expected to provide solar energy to about 200 homes in a push to get more renewable energy into the grid.
Key points:
- The community battery will store excess energy from local solar panels and return it to the entire neighborhood at night.
- Energy analyst Tony Wood says that while it is unlikely to have a direct impact on energy prices, it is an important step towards a decarbonised economy.
- The technology is expected to be replicated in other communities across the country
The battery began charging solar power just after it was unveiled on Sunday in North Fitzroy, despite a partly cloudy day.
The technology has been installed as part of the state government’s $ 11 million Neighborhood Battery Initiative following a proposal by the Yarra Energy Foundation (YAF).
It is similar to another battery in Yackandandah, northeast of Victoria, which was launched a year ago by a community group.
Network provider Ausgrid has also installed a good handful of batteries in Sydney.
The North Fitzroy battery is touted as the first battery in the “urban interior” community in Australia and possibly the world.
It has 284 kilowatt-hours of storage and will withstand the excess energy of local solar panels during the day, feeding it at night.
The battery will provide power to all connected to the subnet, regardless of which energy retailer they use, whether they have solar panels installed, or whether they own the home.
The battery is covered with painting by artist Hayden Dewar. (ABC News: Simon Tucci)
Chris Wallin of YAF, who led the project, said it was the “first generation of community batteries.”
“It stores energy during the day and is supplied at night, to reduce emissions from coal and lignite generation,” he said.
“Its purpose is environmental in an economically sustainable way.”
Reducing carbon emissions is essential to preventing catastrophic global warming, according to consecutive and repeated reports from the world’s leading scientists.
The battery is located in the inner city of Yarra, Melbourne, which was one of the first in the country to declare a climate emergency and has a zero net emissions target for the entire Yarra area by 2030.
State Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said it was “a demonstration of how we can return power and energy to communities, to neighborhoods.”
Battery is the next step in a “whole new world”
It is focusing more on the country’s energy supply amid rising energy prices for Australian consumers, exacerbated by Russia’s war in Ukraine and fears that Victoria will run out of gas.
Earlier this week, the independent Victoria Energy Policy Center recommended that the new federal government spend part of the $ 20 billion Rewiring the Nation plan to accelerate the development of more batteries and storage.
Tony Wood of the Grattan Institute told the ABC that the battery was “a fabulous illustration of both the opportunities and the challenges that are occurring as we drastically transform our electricity and gas system.” for the next 30 years. “
Wood, who is the director of the institute’s energy program, said projects such as the Neighborhood Battery Initiative were important in answering questions about which technologies would make the country’s transition from fossil fuels better.
“Who connects to what, who buys and sells electricity. [It’s a] a whole new world and understanding that world will be very important, “he said.
It will probably have no impact on electricity prices in the short term.
But Mr. Wood said solar community battery storage would probably be more cost-effective than individual homes trying to store excess energy.
“It also means that people who don’t have a roof or are renting can also access these kinds of ideas,” he said.
Power will be fed to the larger battery from individual roof panels. (ABC News: John Gunn)
Laura Finson, a North Fitzroy resident, lives in the area and said it was “exciting to be a part of these little steps toward something bigger.”
He said his unit block would see the benefits first hand, especially since some owners with solar panels had wanted to make sure their energy was not wasted.
“Ultimately, this will drive down our prices,” he said, acknowledging that it would not happen immediately.
In the short term, technology is not cheap.
The North Fitzroy battery cost about $ 1 million, with about $ 800,000 from the state government and additional funding from supplier CitiPower, Yarra City Council and YAF.
But Wood said the technology would continue to improve, becoming cheaper and more accessible.
The energy minister said the government’s goal was to show that community batteries could become more than just a pilot or a demonstration.
“[They] it can be a key feature of how we make our own energy as a community and how we share it when we need it most, ”Ms D’Ambrosio said.
D’Ambrosio will attend an emergency meeting of the country’s energy ministers on Wednesday to respond to the growing gas and electricity crisis.
The issue has erupted in controversy between new Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen and national leader David Littleproud, who have both tried to blame their opponents.