What experience has been gained from the community battery energy storage pilot project deployed by Synergy?

　　According to a study of a community energy storage project in the suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, during the five-year operation period, the household users involved in the project's operation reduced electricity consumption by 85% during the peak power demand period.

　　The Alkimos Beach Energy Storage Trial (ABEST) project was deployed and operated by Australian state-owned utility company Synergy in cooperation with real estate developer Lendlease and infrastructure company LandCorp: deployment of approximately 100 homes in Alkimos Beach, a suburb of Perth Residential solar power generation system, and then let these residents share the use of a community lithium-ion battery energy storage system (BESS) with an energy storage capacity of 1.1MWh.

　　According to industry media reports, the pilot project with an investment of 6.7 million Australian dollars (5.98 million US dollars) was opened in 2016 and the project received a 3.3 million Australian dollars grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). The CEO of ARENA, Ivor Frischknecht said at the time that community-scale battery energy storage systems and residential solar power generation systems are a win-win initiative for energy retailers, energy developers and household users.

　　Through 5 years of operation of the ABEST project, it is concluded that residential battery energy storage systems and solar power generation systems have largely achieved their goals: discharging the battery energy storage systems during peak power demand can reduce households the electricity consumption of users can avoid the construction of more renewable energy power generation facilities.

　　The investigation report also pointed out that the operation of the project also faces some key challenges. For example, each household user received a discount of AU$4,500 for the purchase of residential solar power generation systems and peripheral equipment with an installed capacity of 1.5kW, but the customer was hesitant to purchase these equipment, and many household users’ electricity behavior and habits It has not changed. The government needs targeted measures to address these issues.

　　The report points out that since the ABEST project has been in operation for five years, a number of community battery energy storage plans have also been implemented across Australia. The government found that deploying medium-sized battery energy storage systems near customer demand centers may make more sense than large-scale energy storage facilities located outside of towns and suburbs.

　　In February of this year, CitiPower, a power distribution company serving the heart of Melbourne, Victoria, announced a trial called "Solar Sponges": it will share ownership of battery energy storage systems to store electricity generated by local solar power generation systems.

　　Also, in February this year, power distributor Ausgrid launched its first community battery energy storage project in Beacon Hill, Sydney. This is one of three such systems deployed by Ausgrid in New South Wales. Before the pilot deployment, the company commissioned a research agency KPMG to conduct a feasibility study, which showed that the community battery energy storage system is effective and economical.

　　The Melbourne City Council pledged in late July to deploy and launch a community battery energy storage system with a total installed capacity of 5MW starting in 2022. In addition, some plans are under development. For example, another pilot project in Victoria announced in August will install 40 30kW/66kWh battery energy storage systems on distribution transformer poles.

　　Lithium-ion battery (LIB) has become the main energy storage solution in modern social life. Among them, lithium iron phosphate battery is a perfect replacement for lead-acid batteries, and it is the first choice for grid-connected peak shaving, off-grid energy storage, photovoltaic energy storage, UPS, data center and other industries.

　　The clean energy system combined with the lithium battery energy storage system is a very promising clean energy.