Community Batteries - Synergy Powerbank

WA Energy minister Bill Johnston announced on the 9th April 2020 an exciting five year plan to end fossil fuel power generation in WA, and part of that plan includes batteries to store surplus solar as well as a forced change to peak and off-peak electricity pricing.

One of the main drivers for this change is that our electricity grid is in big trouble. Voltages are far too high and the problem is only getting worse. Solution...store surplus solar in batteries.

Unlike other states, this grid rescue plan does not involve offering people a rebate on their own battery, rather it is designed around very large batteries like the one pictured below that are shared by the local community.

However, it is the change to off-peak and peak pricing that will end up ensuring that many people will be buying their own solar battery. Here's why.

With peak pricing, between 3pm and 9pm likely to cost 60 cents per kWh, then if you decide to forgo your 7 cent payment per kWh for surplus solar power and store it in your own battery instead then during peak hours you are drawing down from your battery at a saving of 53 cents per kWh. If we say you use 10kWh each night, then that's $5.30 a night or $1,934 a year benefit. If your 10kWh battery has cost you $8,000 then you've paid it off in four years and have another six years warranty left on it.

For those who don't have their own battery, and use the community battery instead, the way it works is like this...

You still get paid 7 cents for your surplus solar power, and then you can draw up to 8kWh from the community battery each night at a cost of 24 cents per kWh. With peak power costing 60 cents between 3pm and 9pm, those 8 kWh save you 43 cents each, or $3.44 a night ($1,255 a year) and you didn't need to buy your own battery to do it.

Of course the whole thing depends entirely on the forced change to peak and off-peak pricing. If we were allowed to carry on with fixed rate pricing the whole deal would look far less attractive. The electricity network needs this to work, the Government needs it to work, in fact, if we don't want to suffer daily black outs, we all need this to work. It will take a few years before community batteries are installed in a park down the road from all of us, but it is already well under way. We were talking to a client about it a little while ago and he said, "Yes I know, my job is to install them".