Residents on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula could win one of three Flex Home Energy Monitors and a $500 voucher towards solar or battery installation. The Mornington Peninsula solar scene is boosted by the new initiative promoting better energy efficiency that was launched on the peninsula last week.
The Community Grid Project harnesses the power of demand response, which is when residents help maintain electricity grid reliability by modifying their usage. It will avert the need for a new $30 million transmission line from Hastings to Rosebud.
Sponsored by Flex, the project is also supported by the Victorian government’s New Energy Jobs Fund.
Mornington Peninsula Shire representatives attended the launch, along with staff from electricity network provider United Energy and tech company GreenSync. The Community Grid Project:
- Voids costly infrastructure investments, ensuring overtime energy becomes more affordable.
- Maintains reliability and achieves optimal allocation of energy during peak demand.
- Injects money into the community.
- Offers business and households financial incentives to voluntarily reduce power.
- Provides community with subsidies and technical support to install solar power and home battery storage systems.
Mornington Peninsula solar energy plays a role in demand response
Officially commencing in November 2018, GreenSync will engage households, small businesses and community organisations on the lower Mornington Peninsula.
It will help them reduce and/or shift their electricity usage voluntarily or through the use of energy smart systems.
Mornington Peninsula solar energy will play a major role in the implementation of the project. That’s because part of demand response involves homes and small businesses feeding energy into the grid via smart technology.
The project reflects the growing need in communities for smart technology that regulates the flow out of as well as into the grid.
Larger commercial organisations will also play a pivotal role in the community grid project. Using GreenSync technology will control or curtail discretionary loads, or earn a return on existing onsite generation.
Technology delivers better energy solutions
Bruce Thompson, GreenSync GM of Product Strategy, said the project is important because it showcases the way technology delivers innovative solutions.
“United Energy is one of the first energy utilities worldwide to embrace new technologies that involve community participation,” he said.
“The Mornington Peninsula itself sees peaks in energy usage on a handful of hot days in summer when the population doubles due the influx of holidaymakers.
“By harnessing technology innovations and encouraging community participation, we are working together to create a solution that has benefits year round, including environmental sustainability and improved costs over the longer term.”
The project is encouraging local residents to register their interest via the website to win the solar or battery installation prizes.
