Community Power
Imagine you live in a small and cozy, off grid community where everyone gets their power from the local wind and solar farm down the road, everyone pitches in and does their part, and free energy for all, how good, right?
What is Community Power?
It's that sweet spot nestled between individual homes and massive utility-scale projects. Think of it as a group effort, where people collectively own power generation and storage. This could be solar panels on local buildings, shared wind turbines, or even medium-scale community batteries.
Community power empowers local populations by achieving energy independence.
These community batteries, found in towns and villages, store excess power and redistribute it when renewables fall short. They're big enough to hold substantial energy but small enough not to be a logistical nightmare like grid-scale batteries Community energy projects foster positive sentiment, promoting the ideas of empowering local populations, achieving energy independence, and protecting consumers from price gouging by utility companies. But as we’re going to find out shortly, it's not guaranteed to do any of these things and the details matter.
So, beyond the positive vibes, is there a role for community power between household solutions like rooftop solar and utility-scale projects like wind and solar farms and grid-scale batteries? Can community energy accomplish anything that these other solutions cannot?
Utility scale
Renewable energy on a utility scale is booming worldwide, driven by its cost-effectiveness compared to fossil fuel alternatives, and governments’ net zero targets. These financial incentives are spurring rapid investment in clean energy projects, including grid-scale batteries. But challenges like transmission upgrades and timely grid connections are a bit of a headwind for large scale projects these days.
Household scale
At the other end of the scale, rooftop solar has taken Australia by storm, adorning a third of homes and contributing 11% to the nation's electricity mix in the past year. It's quick to install and delivers substantial savings over time, often reducing power bills to near-zero. But it primarily benefits wealthier homeowners, excluding lower-income individuals, apartment dwellers, and renters. This can lead to a feeling that these solar owners enjoy subsidies at the expense of others. Can community-scale renewables and batteries bridge this divide?
Community power in Denmark, USA, UK and Australia
Community power isn't a new concept; it's been brewing for decades. An early pioneer was the Tvind wind turbine in Denmark, a 1 MW giant built by volunteers in the '70s to demonstrate community-scale energy. Astonishingly, it still spins today. The idea of community owned wind turbines caught on in Denmark and became very popular. Residents can be part owners of local wind turbines and could even get involved in maintenance and operating decisions. This movement didn't stop in Denmark; it spread worldwide.
Teachers in Ulfborg, Western Denmark, built the Tvindkraft turbine in response to the 1970s oil crisis and skyrocketing energy prices. Image source
UK's Community Windpower are still running eight wind farms in Scotland since 2001. In the United States, the U.S. Department of Energy's WINDExchange offers wind power and community battery projects across 42 states. In Australia, Hepburn Wind stands as the country's first and only community-owned wind farm, now also expanding into solar and battery storage. And back to the UK, Octopus has a "fan club" tariff that offers cheaper rates to locals when their local wind farm is really cranking. Similar programs exist for solar power, like the U.S. Department of Energy's Community Solar program, allowing people to invest in off-site solar farms and get credits on their bills. About a third of U.S. states have embraced community solar.
In my hometown, Canberra, the SolarShare program pioneered a solar power plant co-owned by the community. Nearby, the Goulburn Community Energy Cooperative is gearing up for a 1.8 MW solar farm and 2.3 MWh battery project. These are all ways that individuals can get a slice of the action without much hassle and in some cases with zero upfront cost, just guaranteed discounts on electricity bills as long as you remain a member.
Community Batteries
Community power isn't just about wind and solar anymore; it's now also about batteries. Recently, community batteries have been sprouting up with government support. The intention of these programs is to take advantage of a couple of perceived technical advantages. Batteries located within the distribution network should be able to reduce congestion and losses in the network. This could help to improve the efficiency of the grid and reduce costs for consumers and allow network upgrades to be deferred. There are now quite a few community batteries with several years of operation under their belt. So how are they living up to those ideals?
The Australian National University's Battery Storage and Integration Program (BSGIP) dove into the topic, exploring the impact of community batteries on equity, sustainability, and decarbonization. Their findings suggest that medium-scale batteries can effectively manage local network conditions. They can expand the community's capacity for solar, electric vehicles, and electrified appliances. And they offer opportunities to make electricity more affordable, reduce environmental impacts, and involve the community in energy decisions.
The 110 kW/309 kWh Fitzroy North Community Battery is a pilot project testing new methods for storing and providing community access to renewable energy. Image source
Criticism
Yet, it's important to note that these benefits aren't guaranteed. Bjorn Sturmberg, a researcher from the same ANU group, cautions that while community batteries are great for local network management and integrating renewables, they might not be as efficient as utility-scale storage for broader services. In some cases, they could worsen social inequalities and have environmental repercussions.
Another criticism has come from Energy and carbon markets economist, Tristan Edis who looked at all the Australian government community batteries grants and concluded that on average these projects costs taxpayers nearly $1400 per kilowatt-hour of capacity. He notes that “For that level of government support households could afford to purchase a Tesla Powerwall with a few grands in spare change”. Furthermore, the grants given didn’t go to the community, they went to network operators. So, a very inefficient use of money, and can you even call it a community battery when it’s owned, operated by and profits are made by private companies?
Pretty much the only benefit of these so-called “community batteries” was the warm fuzzy feelings that residents may have felt. But warm fuzzy feelings won’t keep you warm in winter like a solar and battery powered heat pump would.
Positive outcomes
There are also examples of community batteries having good outcomes. Western Australia serves as a good example. Community batteries up to 5 MW were installed to address mounting challenges in the state's grid, such as increasing peak loads and unpredictable contributions from home solar systems. Since their deployment, these batteries have yielded social, economic, and technical benefits for the broader system. They've allowed more distributed sources like rooftop solar to be installed and proved to be financially viable from 2020.
Batteries are being deployed to suburbs in Western Australia with high rooftop solar penetration. Image source
To get the best value out of community batteries and avoid those perverse outcomes, community batteries probably shouldn’t be installed as a standalone solution. There are a lot of alternative strategies that are more likely to yield the kind of outcomes people want. That includes things like reducing demand or shifting electricity consumption away from times when the network is constrained and increasing generation and capacity in the existing system.
Totally Renewable Yackandandah
Now, let's dive into an example of community energy in action: Totally Renewable Yackandandah, or TRY for short. Yackandandah, affectionately known as Yack, is a historic town in Victoria, Australia, with around 2000 residents. Apart from its scenic beauty and fantastic cycling trails, what sets Yackandandah apart is its ambitious plan to achieve energy self-sufficiency by the end of 2024.
The Totally Renewable Yack project embarked on its journey in 2014 with an audacious goal: demonstrating that not only can a community achieve 100% renewable energy on average but also ensure that all its energy needs are locally met at any given moment. This goes beyond merely offsetting energy consumption with renewable generation; it means generating and storing power locally from locally owned assets, thus eliminating reliance on distant sources.
Yack01 is Yackandandah’s first piece of community-scale battery and will supply power through the network to Indigo Power customers. Image source
TRY began by focusing on energy efficiency to shrink the size of the challenge before turning to generation and storage solutions. An interesting observation from their experience is that multiple small installations have proven easier to finance and more effective than larger infrastructure projects. To date, about 60% of the town's rooftops are adorned with solar panels, including nearly every community building. They've also deployed a 274-kWh community battery connected to a 65-kW solar panel array, capable of powering about 40 homes overnight.
With three operational microgrids and a community virtual power plant, Yackandandah has achieved approximately 60% renewable energy as of 2022. If their current trajectory continues, they could hit 100% by 2027. So, a little later than they originally planned and co-founder Matthew Charles-Jones notes that the goal of 100% renewables by the end of 2024 is now more of a net figure.
Yack exports a lot of solar energy to the grid during the day, and its imports spike around 1:00 am, when everyone’s electric hot-water storage systems kick in – a bit of an artifact left over from when behaviours had to be modified to suit old school baseload generator profiles.
Figures from Totally Renewable Yack and Indigo Power indicate that rooftop solar alone reduces energy bills by 63 percent, and the battery system cranks that up to 72 percent. And all indications are that it’s behind the meter where most of the change will really take place.
Their goals have moved a little since they started, and a lot of their new projects are related to resilience. Their latest newsletter noted that: “A more resilient Yackandandah means more reliable communications during natural disasters, such as bushfires or floods, and a site that operates independently of a compromised grid may be able to provide a safe, powered community space when required.”
With 274 kWh, Yack01 can power 30-40 homes through each evening. Image source
It is interesting because it shows how community power can be a combination of climate change mitigation and adaptation. This the going to be the real winning angle for future community energy, more so than the warm fuzzy feeling of being totally self-sufficient. The fact is that the first part of the swap to renewable energy is the easiest, and that easy part will also deliver the bulk of climate benefit. How far a community can get easily will depend on local conditions, but in Yackandandah’s case, they will soon have taken rooftop solar and community batteries about as far as they can go.
If they still want to get 24/7 100% renewables, the next step for them will be much harder, it’ll be coming up with ways to get through a cloudy week in winter which will mean energy storage with options like pumped hydro on the table.
Now, does it make sense to put solar and wind and pumped hydro in every single community regardless of local conditions? It can be argued that it is not. that the last chunk of energy security should come from the large-scale projects where local conditions are most favourable and larger populations can share in the resource. But, as mentioned earlier, these big projects are challenging. The less we need of them, the better. If every community would get as far as Yackandandah has, problems like protests over new transmission routes and logistical roadblocks won’t come up as often as they would if we skipped over the community level entirely.
Community acceptance
Community power gives off really nice vibes, but vibes alone aren’t enough. There’s no guarantee that any community-power project will deliver on its promises. Technically, community-owned wind and solar are not fundamentally different from those owned by large utilities, but it’s not the technical side that can make the difference here.
England’s largest onshore wind turbine, located in Bristol, is 100% community-owned. Photo: Allen Kiely
Community ownership often means a greater chance of community acceptance. Community opposition can delay renewable projects by months or even years, but community power is inherently local, and this local aspect can significantly reduce or eliminate opposition. Personally, I would love to own shares in a local wind or solar farm, and writing this article has reminded me to stay alert for projects nearby.
Resilience during bushfires and forest fires
The potential of community batteries remains promising, but their costs and benefits need to be carefully considered on a case-by-case basis. In my view, the optimal use of community batteries is as an alternative to transmission upgrades. These batteries can significantly enhance grid resilience, especially in rural areas. My parents had a holiday house in the remote town of Mallacoota that burned down in the New Year’s Eve bushfires at the end of 2019. Towns like Mallacoota, located at the end of the grid, are often isolated for extended periods due to bushfires.
Bushfire events underscore the need for enhanced grid resilience measures, particularly for towns situated at the end of the grid. Image source
A similar situation happens in California, where the grid can become easily overwhelmed, especially during wildfire season. During this time, everyone is cranking their air conditioners to beat the heat and running air purifiers to filter smoke and ash out of the air. Utility companies deal with this by selectively cutting the power to certain communities assuming the fires have not already caused outages.
The Thomas fire in 2017, the seventh-largest wildfire in in California's history, started as two small fires in a rural area, reportedly caused by the failure of overstressed electrical transmission equipment during severe Santa Ana winds. This fire resulted in three fatalities, caused $2.2 billion in damage, and blanketed the entire city of Los Angeles, approximately 130 kilometres away, in a choking layer of smoke. These events really highlight the need for enhanced grid resilience measures.
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