Australia continues to impress with their advanced stance on energy storage and how it will be factoring into the future of energy generation. The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced two solar+storage projects for residential areas in Western Australia.
According to PV-Magazine, 170,000 households have rooftop photovoltaic energy solutions installed in Western Australia as of this year. In Perth, ARENA is once again backing energy storage by introducing a new energy storage solution to an entire suburb. A housing estate called Alkimos Beach will see 100 PV systems with a 1.1 MWh lithium-ion battery connected to their rooftops. The project cost ARENA AUD$3.3 million.
ARENA CEO Ivor Friscknecht told PV-Magazine: “Combining community-scale battery storage and rooftop solar presents a win-win for energy retailers, developers, and consumers and can provide households with the benefits of storage without on-site installation and maintenance. Solar will work alongside battery storage to lower Alkimos Beach’s demand for electricity from the grid. This model has the potential to offer residents cheaper electricity bills and reduce grid connection costs for future new developments.”
Australian company Redflow recently announced the ZCell battery which would be a competitor to the Tesla Powerwall in the country. However, it seems the order of the day for energy storage in Australia is not to completely jump off of the grid but rather to preserve energy on the grid that could see some protection for the power utilities in the country who are not working on energy storage solutions.