Community-owned energy company Indigo Power has officially launched a new community battery energy storage system that it says will maximise rooftop solar generation and help stabilise electricity supply in the Victorian town of Yarra Junction, about
Managed by Indigo Power, the 120 kW / 300 kWh battery system was supplied by Norwegian manufacturer Pixii and features that company’s PowerShaper technology and its Gateway platform, which provides monitoring and control applications as well as interoperability with the mains grid.
Indigo said the Yarra01 community battery is a “game changer” for Yarra Junction, located about 55 kilometres east of Melbourne, providing capacity to store surplus solar energy produced by households during the day, and then release it back into the grid during evening peak times.
“This milestone project is a major step toward energy independence and sustainability in the Yarra Ranges,” Indigo said, adding that the community battery will help “reduce pressure on the local grid while enabling energy sharing.”
Victoria network operator AusNet said the new energy storage system is the first stand-alone community battery on its distribution network and the first to join the utility’s Neighbourhood Storage Tariff trial which is looking at new ways to integrate batteries into the grid.
AusNet said the trial is exploring how front-of-meter community-scale storage systems such as community batteries will respond to price signals that will help it better manage its network.
The power grid was designed for one-way flow of electricity and Ana Erceg, manager of grid evolution at AusNet, said battery energy storage systems can help facilitate two-way flows between multiple distributed generating units and load.
“We think that batteries are going to play a vitally important role in the evolution of our network as we transition to a renewable energy future,” she said.
The Yarra01 community battery project received funding support through the federal government’s Community Batteries for Household Solar Program, while Yarra Ranges Council provided the land where the battery is located through a lease agreement.
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