Project Summary

Location Lot 550 Cherratta Road Karratha WA 6714

Infrastructure includes two solar PV arrays, One VRF Battery, One Water Bore, One Diesel Generator.

Project Overview

Uptake of grid-connected battery systems, while advantageous in terms of compensating intermittent renewable energy, currently faces technical and financial challenges. However, given expected improvements in related upstream FBI-CRC projects, it is envisioned that the right economic conditions for broader adoption of Australian-made batteries will emerge in the 2020’s. Therefore, this project aims to standardise integration and grid deployment of these batteries in power grids.

This project will install distributed PV solar panels, behind the meter VRF batteries and associated infrastructure at Cherratta Lodge in Karratha, WA, to develop two industry scale representative microgrids. The first microgrid will aggregate assets servicing 106 self-contained apartments, commercial laundry, and cyclone shelter with diesel generator backup. The second microgrid will aggregate assets for 56 self-contained apartments. The project will develop standardised control approaches of batteries deployed in microgrids to increase the stability and reliability in islanded microgrids and develop battery/grid interfacing power electronic circuits that are modular, reliable and mass-producible. The infrastructure installed will be fully expandable to allow for additional energy generation and storage to demonstrate scalability of the integrated system and associated power control and electronics.

The project scope will target three key areas of battery deployment:

1) Investigation will be made into the value proposition of battery-enabled microgrids to generators, retailers and customers, and the associated business and electricity pricing models that maximise the financial benefit of batteries to all participants. This will be achieved via aggregation of behind the meter energy resources and behind the meter community battery storage implemented in an industry-scale microgrid;

2) A coordinated control approach for battery systems to provide interoperability and electrical stability in microgrids will be developed and standardised; the controller will be deployed in a three-phase 30kW/100kWh and single-phase 10kW/25kWh modular battery energy storage system; and

3) The power electronics that grid-connect battery systems will be made scalable, flexible and sufficiently robust to optimise battery cost across a range of market segments; the main deliverable will be a 20kWh battery energy storage system.

This project aims to facilitate significant cost reduction throughout the battery value chain and thereby help overcome barriers to mass uptake of grid-connected battery systems into power grids. This will be achieved by undertaking power electronic and microgrid research that is directly scalable to an entire power grid made up of many thousands of interconnected distributed energy resources.

Proposed Project Strategy and Research Methodology

The project methodology will be executed across three subprojects. Firstly, a detailed system audit of each industry partner will be undertaken to identify interdependencies between existing power electronic and power system controls, software and hardware employed, as well as the engineering processes in place which will be impacted or interfaced with. Secondly, a design phase will be undertaken that prepares a functional specification for the project deliverables, covering aspects such as circuit design, cloud computing platforms and necessary communication protocols.

A detailed engineering phase will follow, in which the industry partners will work hand in hand with the academic institutions to develop the required technical components of the project. Manufacturing and whole-of-system integrated testing, with compliance to relevant Australian standards, will then be executed in a representative grid scenario.

Lastly an on-site training stage that perpetuates the project outcomes will be undertaken, involving the same engineers responsible for developing and deploying the technical solutions to hand over the project to owners of the microgrid and their customers.

The overall project is split into three subprojects (SP), each having a common goal of developing technologies that facilitate and optimise the deployment of stationary or mobile battery systems

Utilisation and Impact

The market size for remote microgrids, as per Magellan’s financial modelling, is estimated to be in excess of $500M by 2024. The market includes electricity utilities using microgrids at the edge of grid locations and also mining applications. In addition, according to the April 2020 figures from the Housing Industry Association (HIA), on average 200,000 dwellings (houses and units) per annum were constructed in Australia between 2017-2019. Construction of 200,000 dwellings per annum translates to a possible 1500 residential microgrids of the size proposed in this project (i.e. 162 apartments in the proposed Cherratta Lodge microgrid) which includes 170kW of solar generation and a battery of 240kWh capacity. The battery value streams created in this project could therefore scale by a factor of 1500, which will add uptake of battery storage capacity amounting to 720MWh (i.e. 1500*0.48MWh) per annum, with the stored energy originating from photovoltaic systems or other renewable energy sources. The proposed approach will also be applicable to single dwellings that form nanogrids by implementing a scaled down version of a microgrid that incorporates local rooftop solar and demand response capabilities.

Benefits to end-users, upon industry uptake of the proposed techno-economic solutions in both distributed domestic and centralised utility-scale applications, include significant job creation in the emerging Australian battery manufacturing, integration and utilisation industries; cheaper and more reliable electrical power for Australian energy consumers; reduction in the societal effects of increasing electric grid costs on low socio-economic members of society; reduced greenhouse gasses due to higher efficiencies gained by lower transmission and distribution losses; lower cost of renewable generation; superior utilisation factor of existing electrical infrastructure; enhanced security/robustness of the grid and the ability to keep the grid economically viable and thereby retain employment in electricity distribution and transmission sectors