Featured image: Western Power / Twitter
The state government and the city of Busselton today officially launched the first battery storage system in the southwest of Busselton. The new utility-grade 464 kWh Tesla battery will improve power quality and help upgrade the electricity network in the Busselton region.
Energy Secretary Bill Johnston made a statement to the media today in which he announced the creation of the first community battery in the southwest. The introduction of batteries for the community is a key area of the Distributed Energy Resources Roadmap, which was released by Secretary Johnston in April 2020.
Integrating batteries into local communities improves Western Power's ability to balance load profiles in the area throughout the day and allows more homes to install solar panels.The @CityofBusselton is the 1st local government area in the South West to have a community battery installed. Located in Vasse, the 464kWh @Tesla battery is the latest to be rolled out in WA, delivering benefits to the grid and community. For more 👉 https://t.co/dWq7dbIqeX pic.twitter.com/uA3g0wvbXo
— Western Power (@westernpowerwa) June 19, 2020
Located on the Shovelboard Way, the Busselton battery is the fifth Western Power battery of this size to be installed in Western Australia. Other locations include Ellenbrook (Perth), Meadow Springs, and Falcon (Mandura) and Kalgoorlie.
Already, Busselton has an impressive distributed PV uptake, with more than 4,700 rooftops featuring solar panels, according to South West Region MLC Sally Talbot.
The “community” part of the equation will come into play later this year when government-owned retailer Synergy will offer eligible solar households the opportunity to store their excess rooftop generation in the battery.
This allows those homes to draw electricity back from the PowerBank during the afternoon and evening peak - when their solar systems stop generating - without having stump up thousands of dollars for their own behind-the-meter battery storage system.
All of this goes to managing Western Australia’s nation-leading uptake of rooftop solar, with one in three of the state’s households generating their own renewable power and at times providing up 45% of the state’s total demand.
Later this year, Synergy will offer eligible households the opportunity to store excess solar energy in a communal battery, which will allow them to optimize energy use without the need to purchase their own household battery system.
Johnston said that Busselton's inhabitants did indeed accept the energy of the sun; over the past 10 years, the number of solar panels has increased six times.
“The Busselton community battery will also allow residents with solar panels to store excess solar power for use during peak times,” he said.
