Power to the people: cheaper, reliable clean energy?

About 100 Phillip Island households are needed to take part in a Victorian-first 12-month renewable energy trial that could lead to an island-wide power sharing project.

The Tariff Trial is being run by Totally Renewable Phillip Island (TRPI) and is calling on owners, renters or holiday houses, as well as people with or without solar panels, to volunteer.

TRPI coordinator Zoe Geyer said the trial would help the island move to 100 per cent renewable energy by 2030.

“If this is successful it will re-shape the way we use renewable energy in the community,” Zoe said.

“In the big picture this is about our community producing its own energy and sharing it between neighbours, which is phenomenal when you compare this to a large, polluting power plant hundreds of kilometres away.

“We believe this the first virtual storage retail tariff trial in Victoria.”

She said using the soon-to-be-built 10MWh battery on a site on Gap Road, trial participants will sign up with a partnering energy retailer for 12-months (April 28, 2023 – April 28, 2024) to create a tariff for energy sharing between people with solar panels and those without.

“Anyone with excess power from their rooftop solar panels currently sells into the grid and the price they get has been dropping from 60 cents/kwh to just about six cents now.

“In this trial we’ll be using the battery to virtually store the power and export, consume and share the excess solar energy among participants.

“Maybe people with solar will get more for their input, maybe not. We will be able to answer this question when the retailer is selected and negotiations are complete. We’re running the trial to figure that out.”

Eligible?

Zoe said there would be no cost to participants to take part in the trial and benefits included a better understanding of your power supply and bill and helping communities to make better use of renewable energy and community batteries.

“The trial will aim to provide the participants with similar benefits to home batteries, but without the upfront costs.”

The only households that can’t apply are those with a household battery.

“It will also look at how people from different socio-economic backgrounds can benefit from the shared renewable energy. We are looking for a diverse range of participants to make local renewable energy available to more people in our community.”

Applications close in September and participants will take part in an upcoming workshop to design the energy sharing model.

Participants will also have a small device fitted to their house to monitor the energy use during the trial.

Earlier this year TRPI conducted a community survey where over 95 per cent of respondents said yes or maybe to consider donating their excess solar to others in the community to increase social equity.

Details: email totally.renewable.phillip.island@gmail.com or contact Zoe on 0422 580 921.