Project EDGE will enable every home and business the opportunity to be part of a safe, environmentally friendly, community power ecosystem across the Hume Region of Victoria. The project aims to reliably integrate and orchestrate customer and community-owned solar and battery spare energy into the grid and be paid to deliver both new wholesale and local energy services. Mondo and its partners, AEMO (the Australian Energy Market Operator) and AusNet Services are collaborating to deliver this innovative ARENA funded initiative.
We are thrilled to share that the program is continuing to build momentum and interest with residents in the area, resulting in some significant milestones.
- Hume 1 customers will shortly receive their first “in trial” program payment of $300 totalling $15,000 for the 50 participants
- Over 100+ attendees to recent community events for Hume 2
- Our first Hume 3 (September launch date) residential customer has signed on to the project
What is Mondo’s role in the project?
Mondo is to act in a new energy market role referred to by the industry as an “aggregator”, shifting from the current traditional industry role of the retailer. An “aggregators” role is partnering and trialling innovations in digital capability to manage energy networks, orchestrate fleets of distributed energy resources (DER), the solar and batteries on your home and business and work closely with customers to develop energy prosumer partnership models.
Customers who join the program
The last six months have been extremely rewarding for our Mondo team who have had several community events throughout the Hume region. We are pleased to share that a significant number of our project partnering community groups are engaged and continuing to assist us with building momentum.
To date, these are our local community energy groups working in partnership with the project:
- TRY (Totally Renewable Yackandandah)
- TRB (Totally Renewable Beechworth)
- APPRE (Avenel Pilot Project Renewable Energy) Inc
- Mitchell Community Energy
- Wangaratta Landcare and Sustainability
- Sustainable Upper ovens
- Sustainable King Valley
- Renewable Albury Wodonga
- Beechworth
- Go Nagambie (Chamber of Commerce)
As the project progresses to more towns across the Hume, the efforts between Mondo and our local community energy groups will continue to grow and assist in the energy transformation for locals.
Customer and community
Throughout this project, we are working towards an engaged customer and community relationship. Establishing a voice for the customer through the application of a Customer Advisory Group and the collection of customer insights through a partnership with Deakin University.
Deakin has undertaken detailed qualitative insights interviews with businesses, local councils and residents across the Hume region, completing quantitative research across more than 400 Victorian households. These insights will contribute to a detailed conjoint analysis to support the design of Mondo EDGE product offers. The research component is critical in assessing customer needs and supplementing technical insights with a commercial product design that ensures sufficient household participation in a final preferred energy marketplace model.
Initial customer insights show clear support for energy initiatives that support increased renewables on the grid and those that drive local circular economy value for customers and their communities. The concept of a new energy marketplace that draws upon privately owned battery storage resources is also supported, based on a model that prioritises energy resilience and lowers energy bills for households before “spare energy” is then committed to supporting broader grid and community energy needs.
An industry-first – Digital Platform enabler
Mondo’s digital team have moved through several major milestones in building and testing the digital capability to act as the Aggregator and enabler for the project. The hardware created is to facilitate a value exchange (of energy) in the energy marketplace, while successfully testing across several organisations; Mondo, AusNet Services and AEMO, to deliver an industry first.
The capability and platform allow customers to create additional value with their systems by ensuring they can export maximum levels of excess energy to the grid while remaining within a dynamic energy network.
Mondo’s unique differentiator is its Energy Management platform and Ubi device that monitors, controls, and orchestrates fleets of DER to deliver customer value and provide access to market and network energy services.
We are excited to be part of the EDGE project which we feel will shape the way customers, communities and the energy industry look in the future.