Premier Mark McGowan and Energy Minister Bill Johnston today launched Western Power’s latest Tesla 464 kilowatt hour community battery installations at Salamanca Reserve in Port Kennedy.
The Rockingham community battery follows the trials in Meadow Springs, Falcon, Ellenbrook and Kalgoorlie, which have so far been successful in delivering community wide benefits and keeping downward pressure on household electricity bills.
Hundreds of residents and businesses in the area will benefit directly from the battery which will improve power flow and quality.
Households which have solar already installed will have the potential to access the battery as a virtual storage system which helps them keep their energy bills down.
Community batteries are a large scale energy storage system which can provide additional power and improved power quality delivery to local homes, businesses and the neighbourhood.
The battery converts electrical energy into chemical energy, and then changes back to electricity when it is needed.
Network-connected batteries have reduced in price substantially in recent years and are a smarter solution for network modification, compared to other traditional network solutions.
The speed of the battery rollout has been made easier through the Electricity Industry Amendment Bill 2019 and the release of the Distributed Energy Resources Roadmap, which lists battery storage as an important component of Western Australia’s energy future.
Other community batteries have been installed in Busselton, Ellenbrook (Perth), Meadow Springs and Falcon (Mandurah), and Kalgoorlie.
As stated by Premier and Rockingham MLA Mark McGowan:
“Community batteries like this one in Port Kennedy is a great example of how our legislative changes have been applied in practical and meaningful ways to help local Western Australians and businesses all over WA.
“Western Australia is fortunate as we can harness the sun as a renewable energy source, so it’s no surprise that we’re leading the nation in network storage solutions as well.
“One in three households now generate their own renewable power and Port Kennedy is ranked in the top 20 suburbs in our State for solar uptake.
“Over the past 10 years, the City of Rockingham has experienced an eight-fold increase in the uptake of solar panels.
“Being one of the first locations to secure a community battery reinforces our commitment to supporting green energy initiatives.”
As stated by Energy Minister Bill Johnston:
“Port Kennedy’s new community battery will provide immediate benefits for the network by balancing demand, maintaining power quality to local homes and businesses, and allowing more homes in the area to install solar panels.
“Western Power continues to identify other high-solar penetration areas to install more community batteries and I look forward to announcing these locations later this year.
“The extra potential that community batteries unlock for customers is another reason why we are supporting further roll outs across the network and why we’re encouraging energy storage trials, like the PowerBank model.”
