The Hon Josh Wilson MP, Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy
The Hon Amber-Jade Sanderson MLA., Western Australia Minister for Energy and Decarbonisation
David Scaife MLA, Member for Cockburn
The Albanese and Cook Labor Governments today launched five new community batteries across Perth to help cut energy bills, lower emissions, and improve local power reliability.
Through the Albanese Government's $200 million Community Batteries for Household Solar program, Western Power was awarded $2.5 million to develop community batteries in Coogee, Kinross, Bayswater, Stratton and Port Kennedy.
At a combined 500kW/2.8MWh, these five community batteries will service around 350 households including renters, people who live in apartments, and properties where solar panels can't be installed.
Connected households can save up to $132 annually, together with a 4kWh off-peak offset under a retail subscription product being developed by Synergy for release later in the year.
The Coogee battery is now on, with Kinross, Bayswater and Stratton to be operational shortly.
Construction at Port Kennedy is expected to begin shortly. They will add to another 13 community batteries already in place across the South West Interconnected System.
The Albanese and Cook Governments are also collaborating to ensure 100,000 households can take advantage of the WA Residential Battery Scheme, enabling them to store the renewable power they generate at home, receive ongoing cost-of-living relief and help secure the State's clean energy future.
The WA scheme is a combination of the $337 million WA Household Battery Rebate and the $2.3 billion Federal Government Cheaper Home Batteries program.
It offers rebates for batteries and no-interest loans to help with the cost of installing solar systems and batteries.
Western Australia's potential as a renewable energy and clean industry powerhouse has attracted significant Australian Government investment.
The Boddington Giga Battery, Merredin Big Battery, Muchea Battery and Waroona Renewable Energy Projects have successfully bid for support in Western Australia's first tender under the Capacity Investment Scheme. Together with three other large battery projects - at Collie and Kwinana - this makes WA the leading adopter of grid scale batteries.
The Albanese Government has also invested $20.8 million in Project Jupiter which aims to help Western Australian households to benefit from the scale and coordination provided by Virtual Power Plants (VPP)
Nationwide, the Community Batteries for Household Solar program will install 400 batteries to provide shared storage for households across Australia.
Quotes attributable to Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy Josh Wilson:
"The Albanese Government has got investment flowing, and we're getting on with delivering cheaper, cleaner, more reliable and more accessible renewable energy to cut energy bills and reduce emissions across all sectors of our community.
"Western Australians have clearly embraced our state's world-leading access to solar energy with almost half of all homes equipped with solar panels that feed into one of the world's largest stand-alone grids. Now we are working to increase our storage capacity to make sure we get the most out of all the free solar energy being harnessed across WA.
"Our investment in batteries both large and small, like these five community batteries, combined with our work on VPPs, means that Australia's largest state is at the forefront of the clean energy transformation, especially when it comes to storage and the coordination of consumer energy resources."
Quotes attributable to WA Energy and Decarbonisation Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson:
"The Cook Government is supporting grid-scale wind, solar, and battery storage for our clean energy transition.
"At the same time our residential battery scheme, with rebates and no-interest loans, and the roll out of community batteries are ways in which households can benefit.
"Community batteries harness excess solar energy and manage its release, helping to reduce the need for network upgrades in areas of high energy demand. This lowers the energy cost for everyone not just solar customers."
Quotes attributable to Member for Cockburn, David Scaife:
"Cockburn households are amongst the biggest adopters of rooftop solar in the country, which makes Coogee a logical place to deliver a community battery.
"We know that households are doing it tough, and this new community battery in Coogee will go some way to taking the sting out of energy bills for locals every year."
Quotes attributable to City of Cockburn Mayor, Logan Howlett:
"The City of Cockburn has a strong history in taking decisive and responsible action on climate change.
"This community battery will enable more people to install rooftop solar by helping manage network constraints. They also provide access to renewable energy for those who cannot install solar panels, contributing to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
"In May 2020, the City sought leadership from the community on how to create a sustainable and climate resilient future. We used that vision to develop the Climate Change Strategy 2020-2030 which sets strong targets and actions to help us become carbon neutral and adapt to the impacts of climate change.
"Our City began harnessing the sun's power in 2009 and has the largest inventory of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems of any Local Government in WA. We have now installed more than 5,700 photovoltaic panels on 22 community buildings, producing clean energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in our community."
