Tarneit is a suburb of Melbourne, located around 25km from the CBD and is the latest location to get a neighbourhood battery. This is the latest in a plan form the Andrews Labor Government to roll out as many as 100 community batteries, aimed at helping reduce energy bills by increasing renewable energy storage capacity in the suburbs.
Minister for Energy and Resources Lily D’Ambrosio unveiled the Tarneit neighbourhood battery today, which received $800,000 as part of the $10.9 million Neighbourhood Battery Initiative.
Project Outcomes
The growing use of rooftop solar means power can now move in both ways – thousands of homes can now generate power and export it back into the network.
The neighbourhood battery will enable solar customers to get the benefit of energy storage without having to pay for a battery at home.
The neighbourhood battery means the network will have improved reliability – meaning less outages and fewer disruptions – as well as paving the way for future solar customers to connect to the network.
There will be no increase on network charges as a result of this project, and over time, batteries will help reduce network charges for all customers, by reducing the need for more costly network upgrade works.
This battery will allow customers to share their rooftop solar with others, reduce emissions and allow the community to contribute to a clean energy future.
The growing use of rooftop solar means power can now move in both ways – thousands of homes can now generate power and export it back into the network.
The neighbourhood battery will enable solar customers to get the benefit of energy storage without having to pay for a battery at home.
The neighbourhood battery means the network will have improved reliability – meaning less outages and fewer disruptions – as well as paving the way for future solar customers to connect to the network.
There will be no increase on network charges as a result of this project, and over time, batteries will help reduce network charges for all customers, by reducing the need for more costly network upgrade works.
This battery will allow customers to share their rooftop solar with others, reduce emissions and allow the community to contribute to a clean energy future.
While many home owners have added solar panels to their rooftop, storing that energy remains a challenge as the price of home battery storage remains high. By rolling out community batteries, it enables hundreds of homes to benefit from storing energy close to its collection point and avoiding losses in transmission.
The 120kW/360kWh battery will soak up excess rooftop solar energy during the day and deliver it back to residents when it is needed. The ground-mounted community battery is about the size of a small electric car, like a Nissan Leaf. Approximately 4.5m long, 1.8 wide and 1.5m high.
It will help alleviate solar power export constraints and be able to supply about 170 nearby homes for up to three hours during peak electricity demand periods.
This project was done in collaboration with technical partner, Next Generation Electrical.
Today’s event marks the opening of the third Neighbourhood Battery in Victoria, with up to $2.3 million in grants available for the development of business cases and implementation of neighbourhood batteries.
Tarneit, along with neighbouring suburbs Hoppers Crossing and Truganina, has the highest penetration of rooftop solar across Victoria, with almost 14,000 solar households making up about 42% of all customers. The Tarneit neighbourhood battery features artwork from Jess Kease from 23rd Key, which represents the theme of connecting to the natural environment.
The Government launched the first inner-city neighbourhood battery in Australia in Fitzroy North last year with two more neighbourhood batteries on the way, including a 120kW/390kWh battery and off-street EV charge-point installed outside a community centre in Richmond and a 150kW/300kWh system at Library at the Dock.
The Government is also investing a further $42 million to install 100 more neighbourhood batteries across Victoria, tripling the number of homes with access to renewable energy storage.
Victoria’s neighbourhood batteries are a vital step towards meeting our nation-leading renewable energy storage targets of 2.6 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 and 6.3 GW by 2035 – enough renewable energy to power around half of Victoria’s current homes at their peak energy use and reduce emissions by 75 to 80 per cent by 2035.
“Neighbourhood batteries are helping Victorians be part of the renewable energy revolution by storing power from rooftop solar during the day and deploying in the evening.
Minister for Energy and Resources Lily D’Ambrosio
Tarneit has some of the highest levels of rooftop solar in Australia and a new neighbourhood battery will give them access to a secure cheap renewable energy supply right at the end of the street.”
For more information, visit the Powercor website or energy.vic.gov.au/grants/neighbourhood-battery-initiative.
