Innovative three-year battery trial winds up

Bruny Island battery trial
Bruny Island residents with their batter

With the end of the Bruny Island Battery Trial next month, which won the Energy Networks Industry Innovation Award, TasNetworks donated $5000 to the South Bruny Fire Station as a thank you to the Bruny Island community for hosting the trial.

Over the past three years, the trial has helped 34 Bruny Island residents install solar and batteries on their homes to test the co-ordination of distributed generation as an alternative to operating the diesel generator that services the island during times of high electricity demand.

TasNetworks CEO Lance Balcombe said the donation will go towards a rooftop solar system for the fire station.

“This gift to the Bruny Island community celebrates the achievements of the trial. Since the trial began, we’ve reduced diesel consumption by 32.5 per cent on our generator,” Mr Balcombe said.

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“This success has been achieved by developing a platform that coordinates household battery systems and the electricity network, to work together.

“After the trial formally concludes, TasNetworks will continue to offer payments to customers on Bruny Island in exchange for accessing the energy stored in their batteries. We already have one Bruny Island customer who has installed a battery at their own cost and we are buying energy from them.

“While limited to Bruny Island for now, TasNetworks will expand this initiative to other areas of the state over time, as well as expand the number of energy management providers we work with,” Mr Balcombe said.

The Australian Government, through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, is providing $2.9m towards the $8m trial under its Research and Development Program which is a collaborative venture between research organisations and industry including The Australian National University, the University of Tasmania, the University of Sydney, Reposit Power and TasNetworks.

More information about the outcomes of the trial will be released by the project partners at the conclusion of the trial.

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