South Australian electricity distributor SA Power Networks is set to develop a portfolio of community batteries to help support distributed energy resources and electric vehicle (EV) charging capabilities.
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has opened the second round of the Community Batteries Funding Program with AU$46.3 million (US$28.8 million) earmarked for successful applicants.
Community batteries are likely to become another tool in a decentralised energy grid, write Lachlan Hensey and Timothy Shue from Australia’s Yarra Energy Foundation.
Essential Energy, a state-owned electricity infrastructure company, has switched on three community batteries in the New South Wales towns of Maloneys Beach, Leeton and Goulburn in Australia.
Not-for-profit consultancy Yarra Energy Foundation (YEF) has said that its Fitzroy North community battery in Melbourne, Australia, generated AU$8,423 in revenue, excluding goods and services tax (GST), for the 2023-24 financial year.
A new 200kW/284kWh community battery energy storage system (BESS) has been switched on in Cammeray, a suburb of Sydney, the capital of New South Wales, Australia.
A community-owned battery energy storage system (BESS) in Australia could earn up to AU$250,000 per year, writes GridBeyond Australia’s solar, storage and EV regional director Stace Tzamtzidis.
On the first day of All-Energy Australia 2024, held in Melbourne on October 23, Kate Clark, programme manager at Victoria’s Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Action, stated: “There are many different definitions and types of value that can be generated by community batteries.”
