More community batteries will be installed across the South West Interconnected System (SWIS) thanks to funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) under its Stream A Community Batteries program.
Western Power Executive of Energy Transition and Sustainability Matt Cheney said “we are very pleased to have been a successful applicant in the program which will see more community batteries installed on Western Power’s network.”
The community batteries will enable greater storage and use of renewable energy, which will reduce emissions, and ease pressure on the network during peak times.
Specific locations for the batteries are yet to be finalised and are subject to community consultation, planning approvals and entry into commercial agreements. All ARENA funding is conditional on the finalisation of funding agreements.
“This funding support from ARENA will help accelerate the deployment of community batteries across the network,” Mr Cheney said.
“Not only will it help reduce or remove barriers to future deployment of much needed storage on the network, it will also assist in building the required industry capability.”
Mr Cheney said community batteries played an important role in contributing to decarbonisation goals as they can soak up excess renewable energy generation from surrounding rooftop solar and facilitate the connection of even more renewable energy to the network.
“The new batteries will add to our existing community battery fleet which we have been deploying since 2018,” he said.
Battery storage has an important role to play in the evolution of how energy is distributed and used across the electricity network. Community batteries are connected to the grid and can store excess solar energy from households in that area, help to avoid building more network by reducing peak electricity demand and can also be used to smooth the flow of power on the local network and assist with keeping the electricity system stable.