Queensland Neighbourhood Battery Rollout Kicking Off

Dozens of neighbourhood batteries will soon be appearing across Ipswich, soaking up surplus solar energy goodness from locally installed solar panels for use when it’s needed.

A $10 million initiative part of the Palaszczuk Government’s Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan, the rollout will begin in the Ipswich suburbs of Goodna, Booval, and Redbank Plains; all of which have a large proportion of solar households.

“These neighbourhood batteries will store cheap excess energy generated by the equivalent of nearly 600 rooftop solar systems during the day,” said Queensland Energy, Renewables and Hydrogen Minister Mick de Brenni. “Critically, they will deploy that cheap electricity during peak evening periods, lowering household energy bills.”

We keep hearing about community/neighbourhood batteries reducing household electricity bills, but it’s rarely mentioned how much by, when or how many will benefit.

But batteries large or small, community or otherwise, can all play a role in putting downward pressure on wholesale electricity prices during peak consumption periods, and improve energy reliability and quality. Neighbourhood/community batteries can also enable more solar to be installed within the local area.

Pixii And EcoJoule Batteries Chosen

The Queensland initiative will involve up to 30 EcoJoule Energy power pole-mounted batteries and 5 ground-mounted Pixii systems. In the photo above¹, the EcoJoule battery is obscured, so here’s a better look:

According to EcoJoule, the pole- mounted EcoSTORE is a 30kVA/60kWh storage system with grid support features including voltage support, phase unbalance reduction and Virtual Power Plant (VPP) services. The EcoSTORE is manufactured in Queensland –  in Loganholme.

As for the Pixii system, we’ve mentioned Pixii in the past in connection with another neighbourhood battery initiative in Victoria. While Pixii is headquartered in Norway, the firm has an office in Australia and the Pixii units for the Queensland rollout are also being manufactured/assembled within the state, in Darra.

The Pixii and EcoJoule batteries will be installed, owned and maintained by Energex, while Origin will be playing with them in the wholesale energy market, apparently to “design solutions to share value with customers”.

“Because Queenslanders kept their energy assets in public hands, these neighbourhood batteries not only help our local communities, but they are owned by them,” said Member for Ipswich, Jennifer Howard.

The $62 billion Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan has set a target of 70% renewable energy in the state by 2032 and 80% by 2035. The Palaszczuk Government says the knock-on effects of the plan will create 100,000 new jobs in energy generation, critical minerals mining, battery manufacturing and .. sigh .. green hydrogen².

On a somewhat related note, the state is expected to hit a new record for electricity demand today due to heatwave conditions. The Australian Energy Market Operator has reportedly forecast a peak demand of 10,400MW. The previous maximum demand record was 10,085MW.

Minister de Brenni seemed pretty confident the state’s energy system will hold up – even with the coal-fired Callide power station still partially crippled.

Original Source: https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/qld-neighbourhood-batteries-mb2815/