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Õ¬Äе¼º½'s battery bank is lit green when it is charging. When discharging, it lights up blue.
Õ¬Äе¼º½'s battery bank is lit green when it is charging. When discharging, it lights up blue.
20 May 2020

Installing has saved Õ¬Äе¼º½ almost $74,000 in electricity costs in three months.

Õ¬Äе¼º½’s Sustainability and Energy division this week in detail for its first quarter of operation.

Õ¬Äе¼º½ energy and sustainability manager Andrew Wilson said savings from the University’s solar panel installations had fully funded the $2.05 million, 1.1 megawatt Tesla Powerpack battery system.

“The first quarter performance shows it is on track to pay for itself within the eight years we forecast,” Mr Wilson said.

The battery was a key step in allowing Õ¬Äе¼º½ to start trading directly in the national wholesale electricity “spot” market this year – becoming Australia’s first university to do so.

“We developed a custom-control algorithm for the battery that enables us to automatically buy and sell power, 24-hours a day,” Mr Wilson said.

“It charges our battery when clean energy is abundant and prices are low, and discharges when prices are high – often during the evening peak.

“We have committed to publishing the battery’s detailed performance data so industry and researchers can learn from our experiences.”

Õ¬Äе¼º½’s energy transition strategy began more than a decade ago.

The commissioning of the $125 million, 64-megawatt completes Õ¬Äе¼º½’s transition into an energy market player that is both a large energy generator and consumer, known as a “gensumer”.

Õ¬Äе¼º½’s , Professor Peta Ashworth, said the University’s operational moves into renewable energy gave students unparalleled opportunity to learn from and study with the University’s own infrastructure.

“There is no better place to learn about the future of energy than at Õ¬Äе¼º½, as the whole world looks to chart a path to the new ways we will supply and manage electricity,” said Professor Ashworth, who leads the .

The new report, The business case for behind-the-meter energy storage - Q1 report on Õ¬Äе¼º½’s Tesla Powerpack battery, is available .

a webinar for industry, staff, students and the general community to hear about and discuss the performance of Õ¬Äе¼º½’s Tesla Powerpack this Friday, 22 May.

Download photos and .

Contact: Andrew Wilson, a.wilson@pf.uq.edu.au, ph +61 7 3365 1935; Professor Peta Ashworth, p.ashworth@uq.edu.au, Fiona Cameron, Õ¬Äе¼º½ Communications, f.cameron2@uq.edu.au, +61 7 3346 7086.