This report evaluates the financial viability of community batteries. It calculates the total cost of purchasing and maintaining the battery, compared to battery revenue.
Report extract
There is growing interest in community batteries in Australia, with several trial projects under- way. Battery storage of this scale (100kW-1MW) may offer benefits over household batteries, including lower costs and increased ability to integrate more solar PV energy generation into the distribution network (hosting capacity). Community batteries may also provide an opportunity to increase energy equity, providing an opportunity for a wider range of individuals to access the benefits of renewable resources.
In this report we evaluate the financial viability of community batteries. We calculate the total cost of purchasing and maintaining the battery, compared to battery revenue. We identify five services that can generate revenue for the battery owner/operator (i) customer demand man- agement, (ii) demand management for the distribution network service provider (DNSP) (iii) arbitrage from the spot market (iv) Frequency and Ancillary markets (FCAS) and (v) network support. Maximising the simultaneous value from these revenue streams is essential for the economic viability of storage, but it will also ensure that storage is used to effectively support a reliable and secure future energy grid. The analysis method is demonstrated with a test case of a community battery in the new suburb of Jacka, located in Canberra, ACT, Australia.