Brooklyn, New York: Dairy farmers in the Latrobe Valley are joining with local residents and businesses to develop energy solutions through a feasibility study that the proponents believe could one day revolutionize Australia’s energy industry.
Awarded a $370,000 grant from ARENA, supported by $100,000 from AusNet Services, LO3 Energy and partners announced April 26 that they will conduct a feasibility study to determine how a new virtual microgrid network, run on the Exergy™ blockchain-based market platform created by LO3 Energy, will not only allow future participants to securely buy and sell locally produced renewable energy but will also pay customers for reducing their energy use. LO3 Energy developed and manages New York’s Brooklyn Microgrid.
The project involves a consortium of partners including ARENA, AusNet Services, Sustainable Melbourne Fund, Dairy Australia, Siemens and CommPower Industrial. The study will include up to 200 dairy farms, 150 homes and 20 industrial consumers in the Latrobe Valley.
The system will be a virtual microgrid, meaning the participants are linked in an internet of things (IoT) based marketplace while continuing to use the electricity distribution network provided by AusNet Services for the physical transport of electricity. All participants will have one or more of a combination of energy generation sources such as solar power or wind turbines, energy storage such as batteries, or reactive smart devices such as smart thermostats or refrigerators. Farmers may participate at no upfront cost through loans, provided by the Sustainable Melbourne Fund, repaid through “councils rates,” giving businesses immediate cash injections with the possibility of additional net income generated through the microgrid.
Much like the Brooklyn Microgrid, the network will use ‘TAGe’ hybrid computer/meters to record data on energy usage and production of each participant and share it as ‘tokens’ on the blockchain based Exergy platform.
This creates a decentralized energy marketplace in which participants use a smartphone app to set their energy usage and pricing preferences and ‘smart contracts’ are used to make automatic transactions.
In addition to facilitating the sale of megawatts from local producers and prosumers, the microgrid will also allow consumers to be paid for their ‘negawatts’ – the energy demand avoided by turning appliances off.
Farms are estimated to support up to 80kW solar and 250 kWh of battery storage – giving a potential total of 16MW for the project – the typical energy consumption profile of a dairy farm allows excess energy to be sold in the daytime.
See also “Blockchain-based network to help Texas businesses,” elsewhere this issue.