Bright idea: The Sands charged with Labor’s battery pledge

RESIDENTS in The Sands estate in Torquay will get a major boost towards their goal to be a net zero community if Labor wins the coming federal election.

On Tuesday this week, Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen visited The Sands Resort with Corangamite federal member Libby Coker to announce the complex would be the location for one of the 400 community batteries to be installed across Australia under a Labor Government.

The Sands Owner Corporation has already surveyed its members about creating a microgrid with a community battery, and is working with researchers from Monash University to develop the best model for how it could be rolled out.

The Sands Owner Corporation committee president Andy McCauley said interest in a collectively-used battery emerged from the survey the committee runs annually for the residents in the estate.

“One of the things we surveyed was who did and didn’t have solar, who did and didn’t have solar hot water, who wanted it and who didn’t, and the same with the batteries.

“We found out there were more than 150 residents who wanted to look at a battery immediately, and 100 residents who wanted solar. Then we found out of those 100 residents, none of them would be allowed to export onto the grid, so we thought ‘how can we do something about that?’

“Batteries are so important so you can use all the power you generate – most of the time you’re using it at night, particularly in winter.

“This is a fantastic example, and with Monash here to do a real analysis on its effects in the community, it means we’ll really understand what we’re getting and what we’re doing.”

Ms Coker congratulated The Sands community for their efforts so far.

Mr Bowen said Australia’s rooftop residential solar rate of about one in four homes was leading the world, but batteries had a long way to go, with only about one in 60 Australian homes having them.

He said community batteries were a good way for people to avoid having to spend as much as $20,000 to have an individual battery installed.

Mr Bowen said under Labor’s $200 million “Power to the People” plan, each of the 400 community batteries would service 250 houses on average.

“I think that’s the start – once we have one in, and it’s oversubscribed, everyone can see there’s demand for another one,” he said.

“I’m already getting calls from other councils saying ‘we want one too, please’, so communities across the region are really, really keen on the concept,” Ms Coker added.