Tesla community battery installed in Busselton, Western Australia

One Step Off The Grid^[1]

The Western Australia government has installed the state’s fifth grid-connected “community” PowerBank battery – the first for the state’s South West region – in the bayside City of Busselton, around 50km north of Margaret River.

The 464kWh Tesla battery energy storage system, officially launched on Friday, has been installed as part of W.A.’s Distributed Energy Resources Roadmap, which was unveiled by the Labor McGowan government in April^[2].

The battery, installed in nearby Vasse, aims to improve state-owned Western Power’s ability to balance neighbourhood load profiles during the day, while also allowing more homes in the area to install solar panels.

Western Power said^[3] the battery would “unlock immediate benefits” for the grid and local community.

The @CityofBusselton is the 1st local government area in the South West to have a community battery installed. Located in Vasse, the 464kWh @Tesla battery is the latest to be rolled out in WA, delivering benefits to the grid and community. For more 👉 https://t.co/dWq7dbIqeX pic.twitter.com/uA3g0wvbXo^[4][5][6][7]

— Western Power (@westernpowerwa) June 19, 2020^[8]

Already, Busselton has an impressive distributed PV uptake, with more than 4,700 rooftops featuring solar panels, according to South West Region MLC Sally Talbot.

The “community” part of the equation will come into play later this year when government-owned retailer Synergy will offer eligible solar households the opportunity to store their excess rooftop generation in the battery.

This allows those homes to draw electricity back from the PowerBank during the afternoon and evening peak – when their solar systems stop generating – without having stump up thousands of dollars for their own behind-the-meter battery storage system.

At the same time, their solar will be made “visible” to the network owners and operators, making it easier to manage daytime and peak-time load periods.

To read the full story on RenewEconomy sister site One Step Off The Grid click here…^[9]