A new multi-res project by Chamberlain Architects will include 49 homes, all connected to a mini-solar grid.

The $30 million Merri Green development in Northcote, Victoria will see 20 homes and 29 apartments hooked up to solar panels and batteries to create a mini grid.

This grid, created by Codstream (the company of local resident and campaigner Ramon Collodetti) will allow the homes to share power and is expected to cut consumption from the conventional grid by up to 70 per cent.

Consultancy Generation Shared, the project manager, is designing the network infrastructure, while Bradford Solar is assisting with the software algorithms and implementing the installation of the panels with Tesla batteries.

Each house will have a 6.4kWh battery and the apartments will share a Tesla Powerpack.

While rooftop solar panels aren’t new, connecting homes together to share and store power over a small local network is.

"The difference here is that rather than each house having its own separate system, we're connecting the batteries up and keeping all the systems in an array," Collodetti told The Australian Financial Review.

"We're creating an energy network on the site, with shared power through the batteries."

A system such as this also suggests a threat to traditional electricity companies, as residents make use of new technology to create their own networks.

Collodetti hopes Merri Green would become a prototype for similar mini networks in established suburbs.

"The implication here is that we can then retrofit suburbs with our infrastructure and take existing suburbs down to 30 per cent dependency on the grid," he said.

"That will offset the need to implement upgrades and build new infrastructure to cater for the eight days of peak each year. That's what I'm really interested in."

MERRI GREEN

Merri Green is a development of luxury eco apartments and townhouses, which is surrounded by Merri Creek and the Northcote Golf Course. As an alternative to the traditional family home, the project’s townhouses represent a low maintenance, sustainable lifestyle without compromising on amenity or quality.

SOLAR BATTERIES CATCHING ON

Developer Glenvill is planning a 16-hectare site in Alphington, Melbourne, in which every house will have a Powerwall and solar panels. Lendlease are also putting them into its 710-hectare Alkimos Beach project (designed by architect Michael Chapman) in Perth.

SOLAR STORAGE GOES UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT IN AUSTRALIA

The relatively new phenomenon of ‘hybrid solar’ generally comes about by combining a typical grid-connected photovoltaics (PV) system with batteries. The technology means residences and businesses can store excess power, to offset peak load, for night-time use or to possibly even take a household or business off the grid.

The systems generally use a smart inverter to channel power from the sun directly into a building, for use as required. Any excess electricity can be directed back into the grid (to benefit from feed-in tariffs), or to the system's batteries for evening and morning use.

Even without solar panels, the batteries can also draw power from the grid during 'off-peak' period and store it for use later when the grid has moved to peak.

This all sounded pretty great only last year when we first wrote about solar storage. At the time, it seemed to be only just peeking over the horizon. Energy companies were fighting fiercely to have both large and small scale Renewable Energy Targets either cut or abolished.

That trend is headed squarely in the other direction. Solar is unlikely to lose government support in the medium term. For instance, the Labor Party announced plans for a 50 per cent renewable energy target by 2030 if it wins government.

What’s more relevant is the rapid improvement in technology and its economic viability.

And the power companies have switched tacks and are looking for a slice of the action, launching their own solar battery offerings.

There’s no shortage of hyperbole. Analysts are likening the change the technology will bring to the energy industry to that which the mobile phone brought to telecommunications.

It’s "the biggest change in their industry in more than a century", according to Giles Parkinson from Renew Economy. A “complete game-changer" for Bloomberg energy finance analyst Kobad Bhavnagri.

The Clean Energy Council has concluded that ‘embedded generation’ like solar PV will soon become the primary source of power of power to household, with grid-supplied power becoming a “a safety net supplier of last resort”.

IT’S PAYBACK TIME: ALL ABOUT THE MONEY

The key factor is that the price is coming down, faster than expected, and even quicker than PV has done in recent years.

Earlier this year, US billionaire Elon Musk launched a lithium-ion battery called the Tesla Powerwall (pictured above) which is expected to sell in Australia next year for about $5,500, potentially providing a payback period of six years, according to UBS Bank.

Musk’s brand Tesla tells a compelling story and it’s having an impact in Australia, which the company expects to become one of its biggest markets. Learn more on the Tesla Powerwall in the video at the bottom of the page.

By numerous reports, battery storage prices are already falling in anticipation of the Tesla product release. The price of Legato storage system (left) being offered by AGL dropped by a third in the first six months of 2015, according to website RenewEconomy, which it put down to the impending arrival of the Powerwall.

The payback period on solar and battery installation is currently estimated by investment bank Morgan Stanley to be about nine years in Queensland, 16 years in NSW, and up to 38 years in Victoria.

The disruption to pricing is possible, according to Tesla, because it spread its research and development costs over a much longer period than its competitors.

The ABC reported in July that the Powerwall battery could be delivered and installed at around $1,100 per kWh of capacity compared to the current price of around $2,500 per kWh for comparable capacity units.

It’s this massive price drop which is expected to drive rapid uptake.

WHY WE CAN EXPECT SOLAR PANELS ON DOUBLE THE NUMBER OF ROOFS SOON

Sanwell Ofiice Building, WA by Braham Architects features 30kW of photovoltaic panels. Photography by Stephen Schneider.

AGL, the country's biggest emitter of greenhouse, now forecasts the household solar market could be worth $2 billion a year by 2030. Not surprising then when they became the first energy retailer to launch a battery storage device into the Australian market.

The 6 Kilowatt-hours (kWh) model, from Legato, released is suitable for mid-sized household solar units but they also plan to develop a suite of products to cater to a range of home and business sizes and types.

Meanwhile, the other two big energy providers are also expected to follow suit. Origin is trialling residential battery storage products. There’s been speculation that EnergyAustralia looking at a package in partnership with Tesla's Powerwall.

Contrary to what some now believe, AGL claims batter storage will remain an early adopter product for next couple of years, mainly because the payback time for investing in the technology.

Prior to the Powerwall announcement, investment bank Morgan Stanley surveyed household and concluded that around 2.4 million households would take up the solar storage if the price was right.

As of yet, it is still largely unknown what level the adoption of the technology for larger building applications like apartments and office buildings. Some contend there will be little interest from apartment dwellers with insufficient rooftop space. But then, there are also rapidly emerging development models which are looking to incorporate solar solutions and distribute the benefits to multi-tenanted buildings.

There is also speculation that other disrupters may join Tesla, with names like Google and Apple being mentioned. Things in this space will only get more interesting.

Nicholas Rider

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