Pooled Energy Demonstration Project
- $2.5m Funded by ARENA
- $5m Total project cost
Summary
The Pooled Energy Demonstration Project provides retail electricity and swimming pool automation to pool owners as part of an on-going service. The energy consumption of the pools is managed from a central Network Operating Centre in such a way as to help off-load and stabilise the Grid. It is an enabling technology for intermittent renewable energy sources such as wind and sun.
How the project works
The Pooled Energy Demonstration Project acknowledges that Australia has 1.4M swimming pools, using as much electricity as half of Victoria, or the equivalent of two large Power Stations. The objective of the project is to improve energy efficiency at the pools sufficiently to retire one power station and then manage the remaining electrical load as a way of off-loading and stabilising the Grid. For the individual pool owner, Pooled Energy typically reduces the ~40% of total household power used by the pool to about 10%, reduces chemicals up to 80% and delivers a much higher quality, healthier and more reliable automatic pool as part of a package of services. The system eliminates the need for a regular pool technician, thereby saving further cost.
Learn more
Report: Pooled Energy Lessons Learnt
This report provides an overview, progress update and key lessons learnt of the Pooled Energy Demand Management and Modulation Project.
Video: Pooled Energy
Pool equipment is notoriously power-hungry. To address this issue, we’re helping to fund a pilot-scale demonstration in Sydney of an innovative technology that can slash the energy consumption of household swimming pools.
Media Release: Smart swimming pools to trial energy saving technology and manage peak demand
ARENA announced funding to Pooled Energy for a pilot-scale demonstration of its technology that dramatically reduces energy consumption of household swimming pools and unlocks the potential for demand response.
Area of innovation
Pooled Energy has a unique eco-system developed over 9 years, which uses custom chemistry, custom sensors, process automation at the pool, an Internet of things via encrypted VPN communications, a full SCADA system, cloud computing with an emerging AI, and connections to the NEM, the Grid at a technical level and the Weather Bureau.
Benefit
The project will be a trial at scale with a minimum of 3,000 pools and demonstrate Demand management and Modulation for the Grid, appearing as a large-scale ‘black-box’ battery distributed throughout the Grid, at a small fraction of the cost of actual batteries. It will save energy, chemicals, equipment life and a lot of the support labour required by pools.
Read more about demand response.
ARENAWIRE Blogs
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If millions of Australian households and businesses continue to invest in their own solar and battery systems, this vast array of small scale energy assets known as Distributed Energy Resources (DER) could create enormous disruption to the electricity system.
Smart pool initiative keeps energy grid cool over summer
A series of record-breaking heatwaves pummelled Sydney this summer, with one particular day even earning Penrith the dubious distinction of the hottest place on Earth.
