Brattle Economists Explore the Advantages of Community-Scale Storage in Australia in a New Report
Prepared for Energy Consumers Australia
In Australia, ongoing efforts to decarbonize the power sector are spurring investment in energy storage, with the country’s 2022 Integrated System Plan (ISP) estimating that 15 GW of storage capacity will be online by 2030 and more than 60 GW by 2050. Most of Australia’s installed storage capacity thus far has been from transmission-scale batteries, though the adoption of household battery storage paired with rooftop solar is also growing rapidly.
In a report prepared for Energy Consumers Australia, Brattle economists explore the relative advantages of a third type of storage project: community-scale storage. Larger than a household battery but smaller than a grid-scale battery, community-scale batteries can be located in public areas or be connected to a particular facility, such as a school or shopping center. Community-scale storage has the potential to combine the scale advantages of large storage projects with benefits – including those related to resiliency and those that directly impact customers – that can only be achieved from distributed projects.
The report’s authors estimate the net benefits that community-scale storage can provide to consumers, identify barriers to community-scale storage deployment and adoption, and establish options for overcoming those barriers.
“Unlocking the Value of Community-Scale Storage for Consumers” is authored by Principals Ryan Hledik and Dr. Toby Brown, Senior Research Analyst Averlie Wang, and Energy Specialist Adam Bigelow. The full report and the technical appendix are below.
Ryan Hledik will discuss the findings of the report at an upcoming Energy Consumers Australia webinar on Friday, April 12. More information about the webinar can be found here.
