60. Youth Options, SA

Renewable Energy : Battery and VPP Kaurna lands

Youth Options help people aged 14 to 30 through the delivery of community based learning programs focused on young people with disability and young people with vulnerability and complexity. They offer NDIS services, alternative learning centres and entrepreneurial programs which help young people build their capacity to set and achieve their goals for a thriving future.

Youth Options are already highly engaged in managing their energy. They already have 40kW of solar panels and 1 X 10.1kWh battery. They have also signed on to participate in a Virtual Power Plant (VPP). VPP’s take various forms but in this case the VPP allows customers to participate in the wholesale energy market meaning they can access cheap energy when it is plentiful and export their stored Battery and EV energy at the full market value in peak periods when electricity is expensive. Participating in a VPP requires careful management and allowing access to your battery to be discharged to the grid. This can generate savings for the not for profit and overall allow more renewable energy in to the grid by utilising excess solar in the day.

To maximise the benefits of this approach Youth Options are installing a second 10.1kWh battery. Batteries don’t directly generate renewable energy and so may not always deliver direct carbon emissions savings in every situation. However they are a vital part of the broader renewable energy transition. In this case, as part of Youth Option’s participation in the VPP, their inverter will limit their export when prices are negative so adding a battery would mean that the battery was directly “saving” their own renewable electricity. Even without export limiting the battery is still supplying power and offsetting power usage that would be supplied by gas fired generators in SA via the grid in the early morning, evening and night.

Website – http://youthoptions.org.au