Project: Yack01 community battery

Project initiator

• Totally Renewable Yackandandah, a not-for-profit community energy group in Yackandandah, Victoria.

Battery owner and operator

• Indigo Power, a community-owned energy company in Beechworth, Victoria.

Project funding

• This project received considerable funding from private donors and substantial inputs by the host site and the owners, Indigo Power. The Victorian State Government also supported this project with a grant and an interest free loan. 

Project status

• Operational since July 2021.

Community objectives

• Advance the Yackandandah community journey towards 100% renewable energy.
• Supply renewable energy through the electricity network to Indigo Power customers, many of whom live in Yackandandah.

Battery location

• At the site of an old sawmill in Yackandandah, which is now a steel manufacturing workshop.
• The old sawmill used a lot of power so there was already a large transformer providing a mains connection point, which was suitable for exporting power. This was an important factor as it saved considerable cost in network upgrades.

Main battery use

• Shift the availability of cheap, locally generated solar power to times of high demand each evening.
• The battery was installed when community batteries were still a relatively new option, so this battery was a pilot project to test what is possible.
• The battery also successfully participated in Project EDGE, a project funded by ARENA, in partnership with Mondo, AusNet and the AEMO. The Project was a two-way electricity market trial. For more information, visit Project EDGE.

Features

• 100kW / 274kWh behind-the-meter battery with 65kW of rooftop solar.
• Mondo Ubi (smart energy controller) for managing battery charge and discharge cycles.

How it works

• Provides power to the host premise first.
• Any excess power is stored (or exported if the battery is full) and discharged to the grid in the evening. 
• Energy exported to the grid is sold to the electricity market.
• This power is used to provide electricity to Indigo Power customers.

Indigo Power Quote

“This project has been important for Indigo Power to boost the journey of Yackandandah toward 100% renewable energy, but to also demonstrate how small neighbourhood batteries can support the host site and respond to instructions to charge and discharge. Yack 01 is a great collaboration between social enterprise, community courage and government innovation.”

Totally Renewable Yackandandah Quote

“The battery project has become an important reference point as Yackandandah works to build in the much-needed storage to positively achieve our 100% renewable energy target. Storage in many forms will be crucial to help us best make use of local generation. And we really need these pilot community scale batteries to understand how we integrate them with ‘people and place'.”