{"id":24462,"date":"2018-09-24T07:45:31","date_gmt":"2018-09-23T21:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=24462"},"modified":"2020-01-16T16:31:28","modified_gmt":"2020-01-16T06:01:28","slug":"dunsborough-virtual-power-plant-mb0757","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/dunsborough-virtual-power-plant-mb0757\/","title":{"rendered":"Community Owned Virtual Power Plant For Western Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dunsborough<\/p>\n

Western Australia’s Dunsborough Community Energy aims to see 1,000 households join a Virtual Power Plant (VPP) project.<\/p>\n

Dunsborough is a coastal town in the South West region of the state, approximately 250 kilometres south of Perth.<\/p>\n

A Virtual Power Plant is in this case is a network of solar power and battery storage systems that are managed centrally. Batteries in participating systems may be “tapped” at peak times to help support the local mains grid.<\/p>\n

The community built, owned and managed renewable energy project seeks to reduce electricity costs for participating households and boost the level of renewables in the state’s South West and the rest of Western Australia.<\/p>\n

“With 1000 households in the project, the Virtual Power Plant can provide 6.5MW of solar at peak, 9.6GWh of energy per year and displace 7kt1<\/a><\/sup> of carbon emissions (CO2-e) every year,” states<\/a> the group.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The project is being backed by investment partners SUSI and Redback Energy.<\/p>\n

SUSI Partners will provide between $12.5 -$50 million in equity funding, which will mean participants avoid having to pay for the equipment and installation up-front; i.e. it is a lease arrangement. Switzerland-based SUSI states<\/a> it has 60 successful transactions in all areas of sustainable energy infrastructure under its belt.<\/p>\n

Redback Energy<\/a>, which is based in Western Australia, will be supplying components including the solar panels and Redback hybrid inverters<\/a>. The company will be installing all systems and support\/manage operations for the Virtual Power Plant. Redback Energy will also contribute $250 to the Dunsborough Community Energy Project community fund for each system installed. Participants will then be able to vote on how money in the community fund is spent.<\/p>\n

A Facebook page about the project speaks of additional income over the 10-20 year lifecycle of the initiative that will go into the fund, some\/much of which would likely be revenue from selling power exported back to the grid.<\/p>\n

The Solar + Storage Systems<\/h2>\n

Each system will be comprised of:<\/p>\n