Cleaner, cheaper and more reliable: the rollout of combined PV and battery units to rural properties on the edges of WA’s electricity network has continued, delivering a “triple threat” of benefits to customers and rate payers in the state.
In another Australia first, one of the SPS units in Wansbrough, in southern WA, will trial supplying power to two customers. The systems, which include solar panels, a battery and a back-up generator, are both cheaper and more reliable than traditional poles and wires for supplying energy to farms and regional households.
As part of the Round 1 rollout, a total of 52 units have been deployed throughout the Mid West, Goldfields, eastern Wheatbelt and Great Southern regions, replacing an average of 4.5km of overhead powerlines on each property and 230km in total.
The extension of the program will help Western Power understand how SPS systems can be used at scale in a range of locations across the grid. The program follows the successful pilot of six SPS units in 2016, in which 90% of the power generated came from solar. Over the three year period of the trial, customers avoided over 200 hours of power interruptions.
Western Power described WA as the “perfect place” for SPS systems and said the Round 1 rollout is the start of a 30 year plan with the long-term aim of entirely removing the ageing poles and wires from participant’s properties.
Servicing the units for their working life will save Western Power almost $6 million compared to the network refurbishment which would otherwise be needed to ensure reliable power supply to rural properties in off or edge-of-grid areas.
“Stand-alone power systems are a cost-effective and innovative approach to providing power to WA’s regional customers,” Energy Minister Bill Johnston said in a statement. Earlier this year, his government passed the Electricity Industry Amendment Bill 2019 which made the SPS deployments possible beyond the trial phases.
The SPS systems have been also hailed as generating direct benefits for the WA economy, creating new jobs and training opportunities supporting WA small businesses.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.