(Photo: Twitter)
April 12, 2018
Toowoomba Regional Council has become the first council in Queensland to join a trial to optimise electricity use with the eventual aim of saving ratepayers’ money.
Energy Minister Dr Anthony Lynham said TRC was the first council subscriber to the Yurika Virtual Power Plant project after signing an agreement with the government-owned Energy Queensland corporation.
“The Yurika Virtual Power Plant has been developed specifically to optimise customers’ energy usage to lower costs and ultimately lower energy prices across the market,” Dr Lynham said.
“Reducing electricity usage at peak times makes good sense for the council and for ratepayers.”
TRC spokesperson Cr Nancy Sommerfield said the agreement incorporated 11 of the council’s largest electricity demand sites on the water network, including dams and major pumping stations.
“This automated system; a cloud-based load control system, will enable Yurika, in collaboration with their customers, to curtail supply required during peak energy demand events,” Cr Sommerfield said.
“The financial benefit of this partnership means that during a time of high demand, council’s assets can be switched off, supporting the Council to reduce its energy bill and share potential savings gained by a reduction of demand.
“The other important benefit is the opportunity to use Yurika’s virtual power plant to reduce the load during peak times, therefore lowering the risk of blackouts or brownouts on the general network.
“The need to pump water long distances and uphill for our water supply means that Council is a large electricity user.
“Council is always looking at ways to reduce costs to the ratepayer. Through this innovative contract, we saw the opportunity to cut costs without reducing services.”
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Yurika describes the Virtual Power Plant as “a whole new way of thinking about electricity – how we distribute it, how we use it and how we pay for it”.
According to the Yurika website, the “Virtual Power Plant is a cloud-based platform that intelligently manages different power sources and consolidates the information to create meaningful data that enables the supply of more affordable and reliable energy”.
