Community Owned Virtual Power Plant For Western Australia

Western Australia’s Dunsborough Community Energy aims to see 1,000 households join a Virtual Power Plant (VPP) project.

Dunsborough is a coastal town in the South West region of the state, approximately 250 kilometres south of Perth.

A Virtual Power Plant is in this case is a network of solar power and battery storage systems that are managed centrally. Batteries in participating systems may be “tapped” at peak times to help support the local mains grid.

The community built, owned and managed renewable energy project seeks to reduce electricity costs for participating households and boost the level of renewables in the state’s South West and the rest of Western Australia.

“With 1000 households in the project, the Virtual Power Plant can provide 6.5MW of solar at peak, 9.6GWh of energy per year and displace 7kt¹ of carbon emissions (CO2-e) every year,” states the group.

The project is being backed by investment partners SUSI and Redback Energy.

SUSI Partners will provide between $12.5 -$50 million in equity funding, which will mean participants avoid having to pay for the equipment and installation up-front; i.e. it is a lease arrangement. Switzerland-based SUSI states it has 60 successful transactions in all areas of sustainable energy infrastructure under its belt.

Redback Energy, which is based in Western Australia, will be supplying components including the solar panels and Redback hybrid inverters. The company will be installing all systems and support/manage operations for the Virtual Power Plant. Redback Energy will also contribute $250 to the Dunsborough Community Energy Project community fund for each system installed. Participants will then be able to vote on how money in the community fund is spent.

A Facebook page about the project speaks of additional income over the 10-20 year lifecycle of the initiative that will go into the fund, some/much of which would likely be revenue from selling power exported back to the grid.

The Solar + Storage Systems

Each system will be comprised of:

•  6.6kw of Suntech 300W solar panels
• Redback 5.5KW hybrid inverter
• 9.6kWh Pylontech battery system (likely 4 Pylontech US2000B battery modules)
• Solar panel racking details weren’t available

Redback’s Smart Hybrid System 5000 solution may be used for this project, which consists of a 5kW inverter (not 5.5kW as mentioned above) and battery enclosure that integrates with up to 13.2kWh of energy storage.

The Cost

A flat fee of $35 per week. Dunsborough Community Energy says participants will have access to advanced monitoring with all metering included, plus lifetime service and replacement as part of the lease agreement.

“Our aim is to democratize energy – giving power to the people by putting them in charge of their own supply and use of energy,” says DCE. “We see this as the future of our energy grid in a big state like WA, particularly for the regions.”

There’s a lot of missing information, but Dunsborough residents interested in learning more about the project can attend information sessions to be held on  Monday, October 1 and Tuesday, October 2, 2018 at 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM. Further details here.

Creative ways of promoting solar uptake aren’t new to Dunsborough. Earlier this year we reported Dunsborough Primary School in Western Australia has set a goal of running on 100% renewables, with solar energy to make a significant contribution.

(Added January 16, 2020: Compare Virtual Power Plant programs in Australia)