- New community battery commissioned in Harrisdale
as part of Project Symphony
- Project involves over 500 customers as part of WA's
largest Virtual Power Plant
- Project Symphony will identify the customer and
community benefits of a Virtual Power Plant
Energy
Minister Bill Johnston today announced a key milestone for Western Australia's
innovative virtual power plant (VPP) Project Symphony pilot with the
commissioning of a new community battery in Harrisdale.
The
community battery is a key component of the project and it will help to manage
and balance the electricity system while delivering benefits from a shared
battery to customers.
The battery
will soak up and store excess solar power produced from rooftop solar during
the day and can discharge it at night when energy demand is high. This smooths
the power flow in the area during peak times and helps to maintain power
reliability for the community.
The
excess energy stored in the 1.34-megawatt community battery will be orchestrated
with customer owned smaller batteries as a VPP, which demonstrates the
capability to create economic and environmental benefits for the community.
This
is the first time a community battery of this size has been orchestrated with customer
owned individual batteries in WA. Project Symphony will identify how
distributed energy resources, such as rooftop solar and batteries, can benefit
customers participating in a future energy market.
Testing is currently underway,
with more than 900 customer assets contracted to participate in the VPP. The
pilot will help provide
a better understanding of the practical operations of a VPP, including customer
and community benefits, and
help inform the ongoing
transformation of the South West Interconnected
System.
Project Symphony is a collaboration between Western Power,
Synergy, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) and Energy Policy WA.
Project Symphony has received support from
the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) as part of ARENA's Advancing
Renewables Program.
Comments attributed to Energy Minister Bill
Johnston:
"Project Symphony's new community battery will provide valuable insights
into how we can unlock
greater economic and environmental benefits for the Western Australian
community as we continue to
transform the energy sector on our way to net zero.
"In the face of a rapidly changing energy
industry, customer's rooftop solar systems, batteries, air conditioning and
community batteries orchestrated together can play an important role in enabling
the greater connection of renewables and the continued running of a secure and stable
electricity system.
"Project Symphony is a major deliverable of the Government's Distributed
Energy Resources Roadmap."
