Launch of Virtual Power Plant in Yackandandah

Congratulations to Totally Renewable Yackandandah with their completion of 10 solar installations on public buildings.

Here's the beginnings of their virtual power plant which includes 11kW of solar panels, 13 kWh of battery storage and a Mondo Ubi smart energy controller installed at the town's public hall. The public buildings project has added an additional 74 kW of solar to the town and is expected to generate 102 MWh annually.

Their project was made possible with inputs from the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning. Plus: TRY, Indigo Shire, Into Our Hands Foundation, Various Hall Committees, YCDCo, Selectronic Australia, Indigo Power and the Yackandandah Folk Festival. 

Below is the article from Border Mail reporting this achievement.

Source: Border Mail Article |Ellen Esbary |Dated: 25 September 2019  

Visitors to Yackandandah often want to see how the town is achieving its goal of becoming 100 per cent renewable.

But it's only as a collective can different sections of the community show the extent of their efforts; like at a gathering at the town's public hall on Wednesday.

A "Virtual Power Plant" was launched by Totally Renewable Yackandandah with solar panels now installed on 10 public buildings in the area. That includes 11kW of solar panels, 13 kWh of battery storage and a Mondo Ubi smart energy controller installed at the hall. TRY spokesman Matthew Charles-Jones said the battery allowed daytime energy to be used in the evening.

"What we're trying to do is create a network of buildings that are co-ordinating their energy use and energy generation," he said.

"We've got a smart energy controller which is a device made by Mondo, and the purpose of that is to try and optimise generation and usage at each property.

"These 10 public buildings feed into our mini grid." Thanks to the battery system on its building, the Yackandandah fire brigade could operate during a mains power outage.

Captain Yves Quaglio said previously, the brigade had used a diesel generator. "That's not good for the environment - now we don't have to, we run off the sun," he said. "There might be one other system like this [at a fire station] in Victoria, but it is very unique. They have achieved a lot of things through TRY."

Other community groups represented on Wednesday included Yackandandah's museum and folk festival, with Indigo mayor Bernard Gaffney representing council's involvement.

Doug Westland of the Yackandandah Sports Park, which has battery storage, congratulated TRY. "I want to say how wonderful it is to have people with the vision you have, in an environment with leadership totally absent at the national level," he said.

The public buildings project has added an additional 74 kW of solar to the town and is expected to generate 102 MWh annually, the equivalent volume of power needed to supply 18 homes. DELWP supported the project with $104,000 from the Renewable Communities Program, and an additional $84,000 of funds was raised locally.

Meanwhile, about 140 customers have expressed interest in the Indigo Power hot water bulk buy

Their heat pump and evacuated tube solar hot water systems are up to five times more efficient than older hot water units, which are responsible for up to one third of household emissions.