The federal and Western Australian Governments have jointly launched five new community batteries across Perth to help cut energy bills, lower emissions, and improve local power reliability.
Through the federal government’s $200 million Community Batteries for Household Solar program, Western Power was awarded $2.5 million to develop community batteries in Coogee, Kinross, Bayswater, Stratton and Port Kennedy.
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At a combined 500kW/2.8MWh, these five community batteries will service around 350 households including renters, people who live in apartments, and properties where solar panels can’t be installed.
Connected households can save up to $132 annually, together with a 4kWh off-peak offset under a retail subscription product being developed by Synergy for release later in the year.
The Coogee battery is now on, with Kinross, Bayswater and Stratton to be operational shortly.
Construction at Port Kennedy is expected to begin shortly. They will add to another 13 community batteries already in place across the South West Interconnected System.
The federal and WA Governments are also collaborating to ensure 100,000 households can take advantage of the WA Residential Battery Scheme, enabling them to store the renewable power they generate at home, receive ongoing cost-of-living relief and help secure the State’s clean energy future.
The WA scheme is a combination of the $337 million WA Household Battery Rebate and the $2.3 billion Federal Government Cheaper Home Batteries program. It offers rebates for batteries and no-interest loans to help with the cost of installing solar systems and batteries.
WA Energy and Decarbonisation Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said, “The Cook Government is supporting grid-scale wind, solar, and battery storage for our clean energy transition.
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“At the same time our residential battery scheme, with rebates and no-interest loans, and the roll out of community batteries are ways in which households can benefit.
“Community batteries harness excess solar energy and manage its release, helping to reduce the need for network upgrades in areas of high energy demand. This lowers the energy cost for everyone not just solar customers.”
