OptiGrid, a South Australian AI-driven energy management company, has closed a ground-breaking deal with a Victorian community-owned renewable energy co-operative.
Hepburn Energy is Australia’s first community-owned wind farm and has been powering change in energy and renewables from Leonard Hill, northwest of Melbourne, since 2011.
Hepburn Energy (formerly Hepburn Wind) made Daylesford and surrounds the first zero energy town, but like most Australian solar and wind farms, its operations are increasingly interrupted by fluctuating wholesale energy prices.
“When Hepburn Energy is exposed to negative wholesale prices, it has to suspend operations” said OptiGrid CEO Sahand Karimi.
“Hepburn Energy’s existing 4.1 MW wind farm has delivered great benefits to its 2,000 members and the broader community, but the interruptions have delayed its goal of transitioning the Shire to zero-net emissions by 2030.”
“To address this, Hepburn has selected OptiGrid’s OptiBidder platform to manage the operation of a new 5 MWh battery being deployed at its wind farm.”
OptiBidder uses AI and machine learning to intelligently manage energy market bidding for battery and related solar and wind farms, maximising revenue while recognising market rules and technical constraints.
OptiGrid officially launched into the market in 2024 with support from investors led by IP Group and including Clean Energy Finance Corporation, Hostplus, University of Adelaide, University of New South Wales (UNSW) and EnergyLab.
The Hepburn Energy deployment will bring total energy assets under management by the OptiGrid platform to 40 MW in the last three months.
Hepburn Energy’s General Manager, Taryn Lane, said deployment of the new battery managed by OptiBidder is a significant step forward in it becoming the first community hybrid wind and battery facility to connect into the National Energy Market (NEM), scheduled for August.
“We selected OptiGrid because of the data clearly showing its strong performance in maximising the value from batteries. The fact that it’s backed by major, well-informed investors gave us extra confidence,” Lane said.
“We were looking for a true partner and Sahand and his team have been very supportive in guiding us through the analysis and technical decisions needed to ensure our community battery deployment is a success.”
Investment Manager at IP Group, Shane Meaney, says his company has invested in OptiGrid because of its massive potential to maximise the performance of energy assets.
“Improving the efficiency of grids will bring prices down for consumers and accelerate the deployment of large-scale storage – these will both move the grid to net zero faster,” Meaney said.
OptiGrid CEO Sahand Karimi said Hepburn Energy is showing great leadership to communities across Australia and is testimony to what a small community of 2,000 committed people can achieve.
“It’s great that so many big batteries are now being deployed across Australia as they’ll all help to drive down costs and accelerate the transition to renewables,” he said. “Seeing what Hepburn Energy is achieving is truly inspiring.
“We’re excited to support Hepburn Energy in making this battery deployment a standout success and a benchmark for the many sub-5MW solar and wind farms striving for similar goals.”
Karimi said the NEM’s transition to five-minute markets and the increasing share of intermittent renewables has increased energy price volatility, making it increasingly hard for battery operators to achieve optimal returns.
“Using AI and machine learning to intelligently manage energy market bidding will make it easier for new batteries to get funding, accelerating the transition to 100% renewable energy,” Karimi said.
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