Australian lithium-ion battery storage system manufacturer RedEarth has announced a partnership with a major Australian property developer to provide new home buyers with a residential solar+storage system that will sell excess electricity at an optimized price when it is needed most on the grid, according to foreign media reports. Participating residential solar+storage systems will be connected to virtual power plants (VPPs) that offer higher yields.
In an interview with industry media, Charlie Walker, CEO and co-founder of RedEarth, said the deal will cover thousands of homes in Australia over time, with the first residential solar+storage systems currently being deployed.
While he did not reveal the names of the realtors he is working with, he said more details of the deal will be announced soon.
Homebuyers can choose to deploy residential solar power facilities with a minimum installed capacity of 6.3 kW (with no accompanying battery storage system), or residential solar+storage systems that can fully meet their electricity needs, and several options in between. In addition, these residential customers will be eligible for subsidies or interest-free loans from their state governments.
The benefits of deploying solar power facilities and battery storage systems during the residential construction phase include reduced costs for volume purchase and production, as well as consistency in contractor installation.
Walker says, "In Australia, residential solar power facilities can meet customers' electricity needs, so deploying solar + storage systems to produce and use more electricity and sell the excess at a profit is a smart move."
RedEarth uses software from another proven Australian startup to securely monitor and manage the production and use of electricity in its virtual power plants.
Walker said RedEarth builds virtual power plants (VPPs) to provide electricity for up to 80 cents/kWh by selling excess power to the grid when prices are high or making it available to other customers, and the management system it employs will continually optimize the price of the electricity its customers sell.
Walker said RedEarth's VPPs support the interests of both grid and VPP members by coordinating its participants in a given region to provide power at a higher price than the network operator if the area's power supply cannot meet demand at a given time, and by helping to alleviate grid power shortages as its deployed installed capacity grows. situation.
Even if they don't get a high return, customers participating in the RedEarth Virtual Power Plant (VPP) have the option to sell their power to an electricity provider such as Origin or AGL.
Walker said RedEarth treats each solar power facility system deployed in a VPP as an investment and provides residential customers with quarterly reports on the returns generated by each solar power facility.
Other benefits of building a virtual power plant (VPP) include continuous monitoring of the performance of the solar power facility and battery storage system through telemetry. The management system sends alerts through RedEarth if their power production does not meet expectations or if the facility fails.
Walker says, "Our goal is to notify our customers before they notice a failure."
Residential customers who want to increase the capacity of their solar+storage system, for example, can contact RedEarth for expansion or installation when a virtual power plant (VPP) participant purchases an electric vehicle and needs more battery storage to power the system.
Walker said that while Australia ranks among the top countries in the world for residential solar deployment, with a quarter of residential customers currently deploying solar power facilities, the boom in large-scale deployment of solar power facilities is yet to materialize.
Walker said, "It's early days, but we do see that every rooftop in Australia can be a power plant, and that's one way to build a renewable energy grid."
After several years of development and testing, RedEarth released its first virtual power plant in 2019 and is offering its designed and manufactured products to the off-grid and large-scale energy storage markets.
He says he hopes more residential customers will join its Virtual Power Plant (VPP) program, but believes that targeting new residential solar + storage systems is one way to achieve faster progress on the transition at this stage of Australia's renewable energy transition.
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