Queensland to roll out 1.5 MWh fleet of neighbourhood batteries

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Electricity distributor Energex will install a combined 1.5 MWh fleet of neighbourhood battery energy storage systems across the Queensland city of Ipswich to soak up excess solar and pump cheap renewables back into the grid during peak periods.

The batteries, to be supplied by Queensland-based clean tech startup EcoJoule Energy and Norwegian manufacturer Pixii, will include 30 power pole-mounted and five ground-level systems.

The batteries will soak up the equivalent solar from approximately 600 rooftop PV systems during the day and will deploy that clean electricity during peak periods. It is expected the batteries will have a combined three to four hours of storage capacity.

The state government said the rollout will commence in the Ipswich suburbs of Goodna, Booval and Redbank Plains, with the first of the neighbourhood batteries to be installed in “coming weeks”.

Energex will install, own and maintain the batteries, while they will be operated by Origin in the wholesale energy market.

Origin’s Executive General Manager of Future Energy, Anthony Lucas, said the retailer’s role in the project will be to explore different ways to create and share the benefits of neighbourhood batteries with customers.

“The development of smart, connected, low-carbon solutions like neighbourhood batteries are central to Origin’s ambition to lead the energy transition through cleaner energy and customer solutions,” he said.

Queensland Energy Minister Mick de Brenni with representatives from Energex, Origin Energy, EcoJoule and Pixii.

Image: Queensland government

The neighbourhood batteries initiative is part of the Queensland government’s Energy and Jobs Plan, which includes $500 million to invest in more large-scale and community batteries.

“This will support deployment of network batteries of different scales to provide additional energy storage to store excess rooftop solar and improve network resilience,” Deputy Premier Steven Miles said.

“This will support deployment of network batteries of different scales to provide additional energy storage to store excess rooftop solar and improve network resilience.”

The government said the neighbourhood batteries will complement the large-scale network-connected community batteries being rolled out across the network in regional Queensland as part of a community battery trial.

The state government has plans to install at least five large-scale, network-connected batteries with a combined capacity of 40 MWh. The batteries are to be installed at substations in Townsville, Yeppoon, Bundaberg, Hervey Bay and Toowoomba.

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