Neighborhood Battery Combined With Solar & EV Chargers

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As frequent readers of clean energy news, we all know what community solar power is, and it’s a great source of clean electricity for people who may not be able to afford their own home solar power. Not all people have their own homes to install rooftop or ground-mounted solar panels even though solar panels are quite affordable now. A local community solar project could supply a portion of a renter’s electricity to reduce utility costs. 

Similarly, a neighborhood or community battery can be used to provide benefits to people living in a small area who don’t have their own home batteries. In this particular case, the Yarra Energy Foundation is trying out a battery system in Clifton Hill, near Melbourne, Australia.

“Public EV charging infrastructure should be accessible for everyone, and especially in suburbs where many people can’t charge at home – public infrastructure like this can be critical to switching to an EV,” said YEF CEO Dean Kline.

Here are some community battery benefits, according to the foundation:

• Allowing those without solar, including renters and apartment dwellers, to access more renewable energy, 
• Reducing strain on the electricity network caused by high demand or surplus solar exports (‘overvoltage’), 
• Avoiding curtailment of new and existing solar installations, increasing the amount of renewable energy available, 
• Enabling EV charging stations for local residents, especially those who cannot charge their EV at home, 
• Enabling greater solar installation uptake in the local area, 
• Fostering new social connections by bringing the community together towards a common goal, 
• Minimizing the costs of network augmentation services by the Distribution Network Service Provider, and 
• Putting downward pressure on power prices by enabling more renewable energy and reducing network costs.

The community battery is also connected to EV chargers to support EV drivers in the local area. A portion of the electricity used to charge comes from solar power.

Increasingly, public EV chargers use solar power or other clean, renewable sources to charge electric vehicles. One of the advantages electric vehicles have is that they can be run on electricity from solar power, wind power, hydropower and geothermal power. These are all clean, renewable sources. Internal combustion engine vehicles can not be run on clean, renewable fuels — they only run on dirty fuels. The combustion of dirty fuels generates toxic air pollution that harms human health and fossil fuels are the primary contributor to climate change. They are also connected to geopolitical instability, silly wars, and corrupt politicians who try to lie about clean renewable energy, electric vehicles, and climate change.

Electric vehicles are “batteries on wheels,” so they can store electricity that can be used to back up homes and grids.