The Salvation Army in Boronia has officially switched on its brand new neighbourhood battery.
The Victorian Government is currently rolling out more than 100 Neighbourhood Batteries Program right across the state, with Boronia being the latest to go live, a key part of the distributed initiative to modernise our power grid.
When you look at the scale of this rollout, the numbers are impressive. In total, these coordinated installations will provide a whopping 23,000 kWh of clean energy storage across Victoria.
That is enough localised capacity to make a massive dent in how we manage peak electricity demand.
The Honourable Lily D’Ambrosio, as the Minister for Climate Action, Minister for Energy and Resources, and Minister for the State Electricity Commission was in attendence for the official opening of the battery.
Real savings for the Salvation Army
What makes this specific Boronia installation so special is the direct financial impact it will have on the Salvation Army. Operational energy costs are an unavoidable burden for any non profit organisation operating in Australia today. Every single dollar spent on the power bill is a dollar that cannot be spent on frontline community services.
This single neighbourhood battery is expected to save the Boronia Salvation Army around A$6,590 on their energy costs every single year. That is a substantial chunk of change for a community site that relies heavily on donations and funding. Over the projected lifespan of the battery system, we are looking at tens of thousands of dollars in guaranteed savings.
Bridging the gap between home and grid
We talk a lot about smaller home batteries and massive grid scale projects like the Victorian Big Battery. Neighbourhood batteries sit perfectly right in the middle of these two extreme ends of the storage spectrum.
They are much larger and more capable than a typical residential unit. However, they are still small enough to integrate seamlessly into a local streetscape or community building. They are specifically designed to be agile and responsive to the unique electrical needs of a single neighbourhood.
When local transformers get overloaded with solar exports on a sunny afternoon, these batteries act like a giant sponge to soak up the excess. If everyone in a typical suburb exports their rooftop solar at the exact same time, the local grid can genuinely struggle to handle the sudden voltage rise. In some extreme cases, network operators have to put harsh export limits on new solar installations just to prevent the local grid from tripping.
A neighbourhood battery solves this problem elegantly by absorbing that local export right at the source. This means more local families can install rooftop solar without facing frustrating export limits from their energy distributor. It allows the whole community to essentially share in the benefits of renewable energy.
The rise of virtual power plants
In many cases, the 139 separate batteries can be aggregated together digitally to form a Virtual Power Plant. When the broader state grid experiences a sudden shortfall in generation, the software takes over. It can command all of these batteries to discharge simultaneously to support the broader network.
This instantly injects a massive burst of clean power into the grid. It helps to avert blackouts and perfectly stabilise system frequency when the grid is under severe stress. It is a brilliant use of distributed computing and energy storage working in perfect harmony.
For more information, head to VicGov Neighbourhood batteries.
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