Australian Renewable Energy Agency to fund solar trial

An on-grid solar photovoltaic (PV) energy storage and trading system will be trialled in the Austalian Capital Territory (ACT) by Reposit Power with the Australian Renewable Energy Agency announcing AUS$500,000 in funding.

The move could help consumers gain more value from their solar panels, allowing them to save energy for peak consumption times instead of having to export it to the grid for the currently paltry sums available.

Ivor Frischknecht, ARENA chief executive, said: “One in five Australian households now use solar power,”  said. “This substantial rise has made it vital to find solutions to better manage how residential solar systems operate in our electricity grids.Reposit’s GridCredits system can control and store solar energy. This gives consumers access to their own power overnight and at peak times, reducing their demand on the grid.”

Consumers would also be able to sell energy back to the grid by placing bids into the market.

Frischknecht said: “Residential electricity storage allows network operators to manage demand more effectively by delivering stored power into the grid at peak times. Reposit’s technology will also help smooth out the variable delivery of solar energy, allowing more renewables to be connected to the grid.”

Reposit is also currently in talks with the Australian Energy Market Operator about the potential to roll out the technology across the National Electricity Market.

The AUS$930,000 project is scheduled for completion in July 2015.