AusNet Services recently installed Gippsland’s first community battery, powering the township of Mallacoota through a grid-connected energy storage system within its network.
The Mallacoota Area Grid Storage (MAGS) is a $7.5 million1 project aimed to greatly improve power reliability in the town. The project involves creating new energy facility including assets such as a large-scale battery, generator and associated equipment.
MAGS is expected to reduce the number of local outage events by up to 90 percent, including both planned and unplanned outages. The battery contains lithium ion, and has a total storage capacity of 1MHW – enough to power 1000 homes for approximately two hours2.
The town of Mallacoota was chosen for the project given its location at the end of a 240km radial voltage line from Bairnsdale3. This renders the town susceptible to power outages caused by storms, vegetation overgrowth and animals, and leaves the town impacted by lengthy delays as crews travel long distances to undertake restorative work.
And the project is working already to keep powering customers in Mallacoota. Since its completion recently, the battery has already been used twice. It’s an example of a new asset improving energy resilience, and demonstrating how new technologies help inform businesses of the balance in cost, risk and performance, while also keeping costs down for customers.
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2 Sourced: as above
3 Sourced: as above