Australian energy retailer AGL Energy has announced the world’s largest residential Virtual Power Plant (VPP) has gone live after a six-month initial construction phase.
AGL will complete the installation of 1,000 Sunverge Energy’s (a US energy storage systems provider) lithium-ion batteries across Adelaide, Australia by the end of 2018, which would reach 5MW of storage.
The Australian Government, through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), is providing up to A$5 million ($3.8 million) funding to support the A$20 million ($15 million) project.
The scheme has over 300kW of battery capacity associated with over 300kW of solar production at the end of phase one.
The existing 60+ batteries in homes across Adelaide are now linked by the Sunverge’s smart software, a cloud-based platform, according to Andy Vesey, Managing Director & CEO at AGL Energy.
Vesey said the 5MW peaking capacity of the VPP can help with security of supply and help customers to save on their energy bill.
“What we are currently seeing is the ability to simultaneously aggregate the battery discharge, which is a necessary step towards full orchestration capability,” he added.
The idea is to aggregate stored solar energy from homes into a virtual power source that dynamically dispatches energy locally. It aims to reduce relying solely on grid infrastructure and increase grid security and reliability.
Last month, Premier of South Australia Jay Weatherill announced an energy plan that included building a grid-connected battery to provide 100MW of continued storage in the state.
The South Australia government plans to establish the biggest renewable energy battery storage in the country with A$150 million ($115 million) of fund support, part of the A$550 million ($423 million) energy plan of the state.
