The first of up to 270 5kWh Sonnen home battery storage systems have been installed at a new housing development in Victoria, as part of a project that aims to cut household power bills by 60 per cent.
The 460-home collaboration by Villawood Properties and state-owned utility South East Water, offers buyers of the “Aquarevo” homes the option of 5kW of rooftop solar, plus battery storage provided by sonnen.
The now Shell-owned Sonnen was tapped to supply the project in April of 2018, at the time marking the European giant’s first major Australian property development collaboration, and its single biggest private sector project.
Sonnen said on Wednesday that the first batch of sonnenBatteries had been installed at the Aquarevo community in the suburb of Lyndhurst, in partnership with roofing provider, Bristile.
And it noted that those homes in the development that did not have already have sonnenBatteries included could opt to add them, and tap the community benefits of a Virtual Power Plant (VPP) that would come from combining and trade excess solar energy on the wholesale energy market.
Villawood had also flagged plans to use the solar and storage network to help power the development’s water recycling plant, which would treat the community’s wastewater, and pipe the treated water back to homes for use in gardens, toilets or washing machines.
The water treatment plant is expected to cut the community’s water consumption by 70 per cent.
“Sonnen is proud to be part of this landmark housing project,” said Sonnen Asia Pacific CEO Nathan Dunn in comments on Wednesday.
“We believe its residents will be delighted with the simplicity, and durability of our product and the flexibility to expand their battery storage if their energy requirements change over time,” he said.
The Aquarevo community is expected to generate more than 1000MWh of solar energy each year from the PV panels installed as standard on all homes within the development. The homes will also feature electric vehicle charging points.
Sophie is editor of One Step Off The Grid and editor of its sister site, Renew Economy. Sophie has been writing about clean energy for more than a decade.
