Australia is a global leader in the uptake of renewable energy including solar panels.

To support this uptake of renewable energy we need energy storage to fill in the gaps of energy generation, when the sun isn't shining and the wind stops blowing. 

Most of this energy storage will come in the form of battery storage. Many household batteries have already been installed but we are interested in exploring the potential of larger, neighbourhood-scale batteries, that are shared among 50-100 houses.

We have found that sharing batteries reduces the overall battery storage required per house, by around 50%, which would save money and resources. We have been investigating the social, technical and economic considerations for how to install and operate this suburb-scale battery storage.

This student project would investigate some of the models we have identified, to calculate the costs and savings for households as well as for electricity providers. The project could also calculate the amount of network support (e.g. demand response, voltage regulation) these batteries could provide. 

We are also interested in whether this kind of battery storage is more fair, in that a greater number of people will have access to battery storage, including low-income households and those renting. The project could attempt to quantify this potential increase in energy equity.

Please feel free to contact me for further information: marnie.shaw@anu.edu.au