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So, in the last article, a study was underway to investigate the feasibility of a neighbourhood battery for the coastal cluster of Apollo Bay, Skenes Creek and Marengo.
During community consultation, locals identified the battery needed to achieve the following objectives (in order of priority):
1. support the strong desire of the community to be using 100% renewable energy by 2030;
2. create a more reliable electricity supply;
3. create power resilience for residents and businesses in the event of a bushfire, extreme weather event or other natural disaster;
4. enable greater roof-top solar exports from homes and businesses.
Experienced power industry consultant, Mondo, identified an advanced grid-connected microgrid with a central grid-forming 4.95MW/10MWh battery energy storage system would be the best way to address the community’s top four power priorities for Apollo Bay.
So let’s unpack how the proposed system does that.
The Mondo study recommends a staged approach.
Stage one would see the construction of the medium voltage battery as an initial building block. This stage helps to alleviate grid capacity constraints allowing for more rooftop solar (objective 4) and other renewable energy hosting capacity (objective 1). The battery would soak up excess solar generation during the day and use it to address peak demands in the evening.
Stage two would see the battery configured to be able to operate in ‘islanding mode’. Islanding capabilities refer to the battery’s ability to disconnect from the rest of the network and provide power when the network fails upstream for up to two hours during peak demand and longer in times of lower electricity demand (objective 2).
Stage three addresses objective three by adding behind the meter (BTM) assets. BTM assets are small-scale solar, battery and other electricity generation assets that can help specific sites operate as islands for up to two hours.
Stage four is the microgrid. By adding larger electricity generation sources like a solar or wind farm plus energy management platforms and demand response systems, the advanced microgrid would be able to island the town for up to two hours (objective 3).
Solar farm and battery energy storage system
That’s the technical solution Mondo recommends to address all four of the community’s energy objectives, but who should own this system?
Read all about the study’s findings in relation to that in the next article.
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