Read time: 5 mins
Based on How neighbourhood batteries can unlock network capacity for consumer energy resources, published May 2024.
New research from ANU has confirmed neighbourhood batteries’ potential, but shown that network position, battery operation settings, and tariffs will be critical to maximising their benefit.
Read time: 5 mins
Based on How neighbourhood batteries can unlock network capacity for consumer energy resources, published May 2024.
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More and more electricity is being generated through rooftop solar, and electricity demand is set to grow, but there’s a question around how Australia’s existing network will be able to accommodate this.
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ANU researchers have found that neighbourhood batteries may be able to increase the network’s capacity, but this depends on batteries’ location, how they are operated, and the tariffs in place.
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The results indicate that well-placed neighbourhood batteries would unlock capacity in the network, especially in regions with a high density of consumer energy resources.
Improving the capacity of the electricity network is central to Australia’s energy transition. While renewable energy is cheap, it’s also variable. This means that the more power Australia can store and redistribute, the sooner it can meet its energy targets.
A network’s ‘hosting capacity’ is how much energy it can absorb before there are adverse effects, such running at inappropriate voltages which can damage customer appliances and increase electricity bills.
As we electrify our homes and our whole economy, batteries can help us accommodate this increasing electricity demand, as well as the increasing electricity generated by rooftop solar, within our current grid capacity.
Several government-backed trials are investigating neighbourhood batteries, and new analysis from the ANU Battery Storage and Grid Integration Program has used simulations of the energy market to identify the factors that will determine their success.
These are:
How the battery is operated
In the researchers’ simulations, batteries that prioritised a ‘solar soak’ – generating when local demand is high and charging when it’s low – performed better than those responding to prices alone.
The network tariffs that apply
When ‘two-way time-of-use’ tariffs were in place – that is, where customers are incentivised to use self-generated power at times of high generation and export at times of high demand – neighbourhood batteries worked better.
The battery location
Batteries can reduce voltage malfunctions better when located ‘downstream’ of the transformer, and in areas of the network that are having issues with voltage and temperature violations. However, in networks without these issues, a battery achieved no benefit.
How much rooftop solar is in the neighbourhood
In simulations where the percentage of households with rooftop solar was around 90 per cent, the neighbourhood battery worked better. This means neighbourhood batteries could be especially effective in neighbourhoods with highly distributed energy resources or significant voltage issues.
With the anticipated increase in electric vehicle charging demand potentially pushing network thermal limit and voltage limits, neighbourhood batteries could provide a strategic solution.
Finally, the evidence identified three critical policy steps that would allow neighbourhood batteries to have maximum benefits for Australia’s energy network:
In the researchers’ simulations, batteries set to ‘profit-maximising’ mode increased capacity less than those that looked past prices, and directly prioritised a ‘solar soak’ – generating when demand is high and charging when it’s low.
