A new whitepaper released by GridBeyond has revealed that a 1MW community-owned battery could generate up to $250,000 in revenue per year for community owners.
Battery energy storage is critical for the decarbonisation of the electricity grid and the transition from a centralised generation model to a decentralised one, allowing the integration of more renewables in the energy system.
In the Australian energy market, community-owned batteries offer a sustainable and cost-effective solution that not only benefits the community but also the environment.
According to The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), if consumer batteries are efficiently coordinated, they could help reduce costs for all consumers by offsetting the need for an additional $4.1 billion in grid-scale investments.
In addition, a 1MW community owned battery enrolled in an FCAS (Frequency Control Ancillary Services) programme could generate $250,000 revenue per year for its community owners, according to GridBeyond’s Community Battery 101 – Australia whitepaper.
Community-scale storage could also achieve significant net value through stacking multiple services, earning the operators a valuable income stream and realising attractive payback and return on investment opportunities.
GridBeyond said that against rising electricity costs, community batteries provide a solution by empowering communities to take control of their energy. Community batteries can reduce energy costs, by storing excess energy when it’s cheap and using it during peak hours.
GridBeyond said that community batteries are also more sustainable as they maximise the use of renewable energy sources like solar and wind and can provide a reliable source of energy even during grid outages.
But for community batteries to be commercially viable, GridBeyond said that an intelligent ESMS (energy storage management system) platform must be interoperable between a grid operator’s system, grid edge control layer, and energy market interfaces. The ESMS must be able to co-optimise across value streams to deliver benefits across the entire energy stakeholder ecosystem.
GridBeyond Asset Development Director, Scott Berrie, said that it’s exciting to see the Australian Government supporting the rolling out community batteries to lower power bills and boost electricity reliability.
“Community batteries are a great opportunity as everyone can benefit from those. Energy storage batteries can help the government to reach its decarbonisation goal, they generate savings and can help communities to even benefiting financially through an intelligent energy storage management system.”
