Yarra Energy Foundation Community Battery

The Challenge

YEF needed a partner who could buy and sell electricity for the batteries on the wholesale market, operate the battery connection point, and monitor and control the fleet of batteries.

The Solution

Partner with Acacia Energy to utilise Acacia Energy’s proprietary OBE platform and market registration

The Impact

As a result of Acacia Energy’s involvement, optimisation of the batteries value across revenue and cost streams every 5 minutes has been achieved. Further to this, revenue is generated whenever the battery discharges, which has maximised the value of the battery. These services have provided opportunity for the community to transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewables.

The Challenge

Yarra Energy Foundation (YEF), an independent not-for-profit established in 2010 by Yarra City Council, embarked on the Yarra Energy Storage Solution (YESS) Program to deploy 200 community batteries in the CitiPower network area. To take on this project, YEF required a partner with the technology and expertise to work across the whole fleet of batteries to be able to:

Buy and sell electricity for the batteries in the wholesale spot market operated by AEMO
Bid the battery capacity into the Frequency Control Ancillary Services market operated by AEMO
Operate the Battery connection point under a Use of System Agreement with CitiPower
Monitor and control the batteries in coordination with the operating schedule produced by YEF using the ANU developed software

The Solution

Acacia Energy partnered with YEF to provide technology and expertise to work across the fleet of batteries. Acacia Energy was appointed as the Aggregator for the batteries, meaning those 200 batteries deployed under the YESS program will be able to engage as a single entity on the electricity market. Acacia Energy’s proprietary OBE platform will allow YEF to achieve the maximum value from each battery throughout the day.

The Impact

Acacia Energy’s proprietary OBE Platform optimises the value of the battery across revenue and cost streams every 5 minutes. Through YEF’s partnership with Acacia Energy, YEF will earn revenue when the battery discharges based on the wholesale spot market price and will earn revenue for making capacity available to support AEMO FCAS. Through using Acacia Energy’s proprietary OBE Platform, YEF will achieve the maximum value from each battery throughout the day, which will continue to fund ongoing maintenance and expenses of the project.

Through the partnership, Acacia Energy can deploy and operate a fleet of batteries using a common platform that is autonomously operated, which enables the YESS program to deliver the community benefits of:

Community members who don’t have adequate roof space – they are able to gain access to renewable energy
Community members with excess solar – they can store their excess.

This access provides opportunity for a transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewable sources within Australia.