{"id":69887,"date":"2023-01-16T05:13:24","date_gmt":"2023-01-15T18:43:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=69887"},"modified":"2023-01-16T05:13:24","modified_gmt":"2023-01-15T18:43:24","slug":"hybrid-systems-vpp-mb2790","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/hybrid-systems-vpp-mb2790\/","title":{"rendered":"Hybrid Systems Australia Secures WA Schools VPP Project Slice"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-69888\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/schools-vpp-pilot.jpg\" alt=\"WA Schools VPP Pilot\" width=\"1200\" height=\"630\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/schools-vpp-pilot.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/schools-vpp-pilot-300x158.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/schools-vpp-pilot-1024x538.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/schools-vpp-pilot-768x403.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Hybrid Systems Australia will be installing four fairly chunky solar and battery setups for a Virtual Power Plant (VPP) pilot project in Western Australia.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Synergy and WA&#8217;s McGowan Government have been working on a initiative involving solar and\/or batteries and VPP technology for a bunch of schools across the state&#8217;s South-West Interconnected System (SWIS).<\/p>\n<p>A VPP is basically a network of distributed energy resources co-ordinated by a central operator. Combined, the systems can act as a single power plant to dispatch energy into the grid as needed and other services. For example, the batteries in the VPP may also be directed to charge when grid demand is so low it threatens network stability.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wa-schools-vpp-mb1630\/\">Originally to include 10 schools<\/a>, the WA Schools VPP Pilot Project was subsequently expanded to 17 and is now in its second round. Pacific Energy subsidiary Hybrid Systems Australia has been tapped by Synergy to install solar\u2013battery systems at four schools in in Western Australia\u2019s Mid West:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Champion Bay Senior High School<\/li>\n<li>Geraldton Senior High School<\/li>\n<li>Waggrakine Primary School<\/li>\n<li>Kalbarri District High School<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The installations ranging from 40kW to 100kW of solar panel capacity and 200kWh to 400kWh of battery storage are expected to be operational by the end of this year.<\/p>\n<p>Among the aims of the Schools VPP Pilot Project is to determine how VPP technology can help participating schools better manage their electricity consumption. The bigger picture is investigating the potential to help make local grids more stable and reliable, and as Hybrid Systems Australia\u2019s Executive Director Mike Hall <a href=\"https:\/\/pacificenergy.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Hybrid-Systems-Australia-partners-with-Synergy-to-deliver-Schools-VPP-pilot-program.pdf\">says<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe Schools Virtual Power Plant pilot will play a key role in orchestrating renewable energy sources and reducing greenhouse gas emissions while simultaneously helping the energy sector find new ways to reduce our reliance on fossil-fuel generation and large-scale assets.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Another bonus of the program for participating schools is the integration of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) learning opportunities for students; perhaps sparking interest among some in pursuing renewable energy careers.<\/p>\n<p>More information on the Schools VPP Pilot Project <a href=\"https:\/\/www.synergy.net.au\/Our-energy\/Pilots-and-trials\/Schools-VPP-Pilot-Project\">can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This isn&#8217;t the first time Hybrid Systems Australia has carried out a project for Synergy involving energy storage. In 2021, the company built and installed a 576kW \/ 344kWh battery and control system for the gentailer at Coral Bay, WA.<\/p>\n<h2>VPP Programs For (Some Of) The Rest Of Us<\/h2>\n<p>It&#8217;s not just schools getting in on the VPP scene, and not only in Western Australia. Virtual Power Plants have been popping up in various states and territories, offering incentives to solar households such as discounts on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/battery-storage\/comparison-table\/\"> cost of a home battery<\/a>, a much higher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/systems\/feed-in-tariffs\/\"> solar feed-in tariff<\/a> &#8211; or in some cases, both.<\/p>\n<p>If this sounds pretty good to you, it&#8217;s worth first learning about the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/battery-storage\/virtual-power-plants\/\">pros and cons of virtual power plants<\/a> as you&#8217;ll be giving a third party control over your battery. Assuming you&#8217;re still keen to explore the opportunity further, check out what&#8217;s available across Australia on SQ&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/battery-storage\/vpp-comparison\/\">VPP comparison page<\/a> &#8211; we currently have 19 programs listed and the table is updated regularly.<\/p>\n<p>Among the programs listed is the Tesla VPP. On a related note, last month <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/feed\/update\/urn:li:activity:7003168329494388736\/\">Tesla claimed a win<\/a> after a severe weather event in South Australia in November resulted in the state <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-off-grid-renewables\/\">disconnecting from the<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-off-grid-renewables\/\"> NEM<\/a> (National Electricity Market).<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Over 4,000 homes with Powerwall connected to Tesla\u2019s Virtual Power Plants reacted within seconds to maintain grid stability across the state while keeping their homes powered.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>To &#8220;help&#8221; maintain grid stability would be more accurate, but anyhow.<\/p>\n<p>While there were still a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-blackout-solar-disconnect-mb2713\/\">bunch of blackouts<\/a> in various locations, Tesla said battery storage played a significant role in helping to avoid a more widespread event &#8211; such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/australian-politicians-confuse-wind-power-powerful-winds\/\">what occurred in 2016<\/a> when approximately 850,000 South Australian customers lost electricity supply.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hybrid Systems Australia will be installing four fairly chunky solar and battery setups for a Virtual Power Plant (VPP) pilot project in Western Australia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":69888,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[678],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-solar-battery-news","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Hybrid Systems Australia Secures WA Schools VPP Project Slice<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Hybrid Systems Australia will be installing four fairly chunky solar and battery setups for a Virtual Power Plant pilot project in WA.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/hybrid-systems-vpp-mb2790\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hybrid Systems Australia Secures WA Schools VPP Project Slice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hybrid Systems Australia will be installing four fairly chunky solar and battery setups for a Virtual Power Plant pilot project in WA.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/hybrid-systems-vpp-mb2790\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SolarQuotes Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarQuotes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-15T18:43:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/schools-vpp-pilot.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael Bloch\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@solar_quotes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@solar_quotes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/hybrid-systems-vpp-mb2790\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/hybrid-systems-vpp-mb2790\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Michael Bloch\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/66afd571aa00c2e442f0192ebac2f6f1\"},\"headline\":\"Hybrid Systems Australia Secures WA Schools VPP Project Slice\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-15T18:43:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/hybrid-systems-vpp-mb2790\/\"},\"wordCount\":641,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/hybrid-systems-vpp-mb2790\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/schools-vpp-pilot.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"General Solar &amp; 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In August last year, the McGowan Government\u00a0 announced a $66.3 million renewable energy package that included $4.4 million for rooftop solar and batteries to transform up to 10 schools into\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Solar &amp; Storage News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Solar &amp; Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Kalgoorlie Virtual Power Plant","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/kalgoorlie-boulder-vpp.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/kalgoorlie-boulder-vpp.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/kalgoorlie-boulder-vpp.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/kalgoorlie-boulder-vpp.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/kalgoorlie-boulder-vpp.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":89224,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wa-project-jupiter-vpp-mb3107\/","url_meta":{"origin":69887,"position":2},"title":"Project Jupiter Promises Better VPP Programs In WA","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"January 31, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Federal funding has been announced for a project in Western Australia that will enable more owners of solar panels and home batteries to join Virtual Power Plants. 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