The Victorian Government is currently consulting on its Neighbourhood Battery Initiative, that will support trials of a range of neighbourhood battery models in Victoria, from feasibility through to implementation.

AGL made a formal submission a copy of which is available here.

AGL supports the Victorian Government’s long-term vision in which the increased uptake of DER contributes toward a decarbonised electricity system, whilst also increasing the reliability of supply and reducing energy system costs as we transition to a clean energy sector.

We welcome the Initiative’s intent to support pilots and demonstrations to overcome barriers and challenges to the deployment of neighbourhood scale batteries to unlock the benefits of new energy storage models for communities, energy users and the electricity grid.

To achieve this policy intent, we consider the Initiative should test a wide variety of ownership models and asset configurations including a hybrid model that may entail a combination of front-of-the-meter and behind-the-meter assets. This would best enable the Victorian Government to assess the comparative economic feasibility of each model in facilitating ‘value stacking’ to provide multiple services across the electricity supply chain, including optimising self-consumption, wholesale energy and ancillary services, and network support services.

Accordingly, we recommend the Victorian Government broaden the Initiative eligibility criteria to facilitate the trial of a hybrid model for the deployment of neighbourhood scale batteries to provide insights to the Victorian Government about the best way to access and share the ‘value stack’ with Victorian consumers and local neighbourhood communities.