Distributed Storage

The Western Australia government has signaled scrapping or winding back subsidies for rooftop solar, while looking for ways to boost battery uptake.

Italian renewable monitoring platform provider Elemize is looking to bring its battery controller unit Bamboo to the Australian market. Targeting aggregation uses such as in Virtual Power Plants (VPP), Elemize is aiming at Australia being the first market it expands into after its native Italy.

Installer Natural Solar is equipping 12 homes in Sydney with rooftop PV and sonnen batteries, and will utilize blockchain technology to facilitate P2P trading of electricity between households. The mini virtual power plant (VPP) project will allow the homes to reduce their electricity demand from the grid by 90%.

DNV GL, Deakin University, the CSIRO, and the Smart Energy Council have come together to collaborate on a two-year project to develop a new performance standard for distributed energy storage systems. The work behind the proposed Australian Battery Performance Standard is being funded $1.9 million from ARENA and the Victoria state government.

Canberra-based Reposit Power has introduced smart home automation to its solar, storage, monitoring and trading technology platform. The If This, Then That (IFTTT) web service that can switch on and off big electricity consumption devices like pool pumps and air conditioners, to maximise the utility of rooftop PV power.

German battery manufacturer, Tesvolt and EPC Unlimited Energy won the Smarter E award last week, for their innovative off-grid solar plus storage project in WA’s Southwest. The project demonstrates how solar can provide a reliable energy supply without back up from the grid, and why it is set to spread around the world even faster than many predict.

The first Senec battery to be installed in an Australian home has helped the household reduce its summer power bill by 90%. The system, a 10 kWp Senec.Home battery, has helped the Spilsbury family in Perth’s western suburbs reduce its power consumption from the grid through maximizing self consumption for its 5 kW rooftop solar and by adapting consumption patterns.

Data published by the United States Geological Survey show that, in 2017, lithium production in Australia reached 18,700 tons, compared to 14,100 tons in Chile. The market share of Chile has declined from 37.6% in 2016 to 32.8% in 2017; and risen Australia, from 36.8% to 43.5% in the same period.

The second stage of the SETuP project is rolling out Solar PV to communities in the Northern Territory, with the project set to be completed by November 2018.