AGL ahead of schedule in the roll-out of the world’s largest virtual power plant to be developed in Adelaide

CONCERN about energy reliability has prompted energy retailer AGL to increase the storage capacity of solar batteries it is installing across Adelaide in a bid to create the world’s largest virtual power plant

AGL managing director Andy Vesey Pic. Roy VanDerVegt

CUSTOMER concern about the state’s energy reliability has prompted retailer AGL to increase the storage capacity of solar batteries it is installing across Adelaide in a bid to create the world’s largest virtual power plant.

AGL announced in August it would begin installing 1000 subsidised batteries for participating solar customers in a $20 million public-private investment that would enable excess solar energy to be stored in household batteries.

The customer would be able to draw up on the power to reduce their costs but AGL will also have the ability to direct power from the battery to the customer’s home or into the grid during critical events, such as peak demand resulting from severe weather.

AGL has sold an initial tranche of 150 batteries with capacity of 7.7kWh.

Company general manager new energy, Elisabeth Brinton, said the company will release another 350 batteries with a capacity of 11.6kWh, partly in response to customer concerns about secure supply in the wake of the September statewide blackout.

“As we started talking to our customers it became clear individual were very interested in having back up power as an option,” she said.

The initial 150 customers will also have the capacity of their units upgraded at no cost.

Each battery costs $3849 and includes hardware, software, monitoring services and installation.

When completed the virtual power plant installed in homes and businesses across metropolitan Adelaide will have an output equivalent to a 5MW solar peaking plant.

The Sunverge units, being supplied to customers can be used to provide back-up power in the event of a black-out but at an additional $899.

Stage two of the project will focus on distributing battereies to Campbelltown, Tea Tree Gully, Henley South and Ottoway, which have been identified as suburbs with a “constrained” power supply, where increased housing and business growth is putting strain on the reliable supply of electricity.

“This is where the local solar battery virtual power plant concept is so important,” Ms Brinton said. “If you can have a system that is close to where all the need is, that’s the most efficient system.

“The batteries, the software, the inverters, the solar panels, all the prices have come down and the technology has advanced that we can provide a locally based solution.”

AGL said it expects customers with “sufficient excess solar generation” to achieve system payback of seven years or less.

SA Power Networks has also installed the last of 100 battery storage systems in a separate three-year trial VPP in Salisbury.

The trial pairs a Tesla battery with a 3.2kW solar system.