One of Australia’s first and largest residential virtual power plants, comprising around 7,000 Powerwall batteries and 25 megawatts of rooftop solar, has changed hands from US battery and EV giant, Tesla, to big three gentailer, AGL Energy.
AGL announced the acquisition of 100 per cent of the South Australia Virtual Power Plant (SA VPP) on Friday, alongside the launch of its new Community Power program, which aims to share the benefits of solar and batteries with customers that have been unable to access them.
The VPP was first announced in 2018 and considered a trail-blazing project, both in Australia and globally, with grand plans to connect 250 MW of rooftop solar capacity across 50,000 homes, starting with the state’s social and community housing properties.
The project was backed by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena)m the CEFC and the South Australia government to achieve the dual goals of cutting energy costs for low-income households and helping to stabilise a grid with soaring rooftop solar penetration.
A 5 kW rooftop solar system and 13.5 kWh Powerwall battery was installed on eligible Housing SA premises by Tesla at no upfront cost to the tenant. In return, the participating household would move off the SA Concession Energy Discount Offer and on to the SA VPP energy plan, through retailer Energy Locals.
And while SA VPP has not hit the lofty targets set at its inception, it has grown to combine roughly 37 MW of installed battery capacity – a total of 7,460 Tesla Powerwalls – and roughly 25 MW of distributed rooftop solar systems.
Its purchase, for an as-yet undisclosed amount, gives AGL more skin in the VPP game in Australia at a time when the segment is expected to get a much-needed boost from the federal government’s newly launched Cheaper Home Batteries scheme.
AGL said on Friday that it would continue delivering “significantly discounted energy prices” to participating social and community housing residents signed up to the VPP, while also exploring ways to expand its benefits to social and community housing residents across the country.
“AGL is a leader in virtual power plant technology, and now proudly have one of the largest residential battery virtual power plant in Australia, driving us closer to our FY27 target of 1.6GW of decentralised assets under orchestration,” said AGL chief customer officer Jo Egan, on Friday.
”This innovative model of a virtual power plant means we can extend the benefits of the energy transition to more customers, in a really smart and simple way.
“We know that upfront costs of installing solar and batteries can be a significant barrier for many, and we are focused on how we can make these more accessible,” Egan said.
