Western Australia’s Shire of Augusta-Margaret River has officially launched an innovative community battery storage trial in Margaret River, which will be run over five years.
Located at the Margaret River Recreation Centre, the 464 kilowatt hour Tesla battery will improve power quality for the local community and allow more homes to install solar panels.
Western Power will operate the battery and collect data to identify more locations where large battery storage can be placed on the customer side of the connection to assist industry, retailers and other commercial partners.
The battery will sit inside the centre, helping to manage its solar generation before it enters the network – this has a number of benefits.
It will help absorb solar so that it opens up more capacity for residents and businesses using solar panels, as well as assisting the wider electricity network by ‘smoothing’ demand issues, such as low load, which is encountered when consumer solar generation is high but power demand is low.
Western Australian Energy Minister, Bill Johnston, said, “The McGowan Government is continuing to transform the energy landscape for all customers here in Western Australia.
“Much of the heavy lifting has been done through changes to legislation and providing clear direction on opportunities through the Distributed Energy Resources Roadmap.
“Community batteries are proving to be a versatile solution to network challenges, and I’d like to congratulate the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River for their innovative approach by embracing renewable technology.
“The community battery will also give local commercial properties with large solar outputs an opportunity to further reduce their bills.”
