(Photo: Panasonic Australia)
June 2, 2015
Panasonic Australia today announced a pilot project with Ergon Energy to test new battery technology in selected solar-powered homes in Queensland.
The battery stores extra electricity generated during the day by solar panels to provide a reliable, efficient base load power source for solar-installed households during peak usage periods.
Once fully charged from the day’s sun, the storage battery is capable of producing a two kilowatt output for four hours.
The company says modelling for the Australian market shows the system could increase the self-consumption rate of solar generation from 30 per cent up to as much as 60 per cent.
The battery is expected to have a “10-year plus” life cycle.
An Ergon Energy spokesman said the battery technology had the potential to reduce customer bills and allow more efficient use of the electricity network.
The system will be tested initially at an Ergon research laboratory in Cairns followed by field tests in residential homes to gather “real world” understanding of how such systems can benefit customers and interact with the electricity network.
Ergon has been working with domestic and international leaders in residential and grid battery systems in recent years.
The Panasonic technology includes a Lithium Ion battery and a high-tech Network Adapter designed specifically to interact with solar PV systems.
“Changing social trends and technological advances, particularly cost reductions in solar PV systems and now battery energy storage systems, will dramatically change – even revolutionise – the way electricity is supplied to and used by our customers,” Ergon spokesman Glenn Walden said.
“Battery storage has the potential to provide residential customers with greater choice and control of energy use and could make our electricity network cheaper to operate in the long term.
“It can allow solar energy produced during the day to be used at peak load times in the evening or energy to be stored at light network load times and supplied at heavy load times.
“We believe that partnering the technology understanding of Ergon and Panasonic can result in products of great value to our customers and a more efficient electricity network.”
Also taking part in similar trials in other States are energy companies ActewAGL and Snowy Hydro’s Red Energy.
