The rural city’s clean energy revolution started with a bang on Wednesday night when 75 local people attended the launch of the exciting new renewable opportunity, Project EDGE (Energy Demand and Generation Exchange), at the Wangaratta Performing Arts Centre.
This groundbreaking trial for a new energy market allows local homes and businesses to produce renewable energy with their solar panels, store it in their household or businesses batteries and optimise feeding into the local energy grid in new and smart ways.
Not only does it mean the supply is more sustainable, but it lowers the cost of electricity. This project subsidises the cost of solar panels and batteries for homes or businesses, reduces the cost of energy, and reduces the local greenhouse gas emissions.
Wangaratta Landcare and Sustainability has partnered with Mondo Energy to assist in rolling out this world-leading project aimed at helping better manage the energy system when there are many suppliers with solar panels.
The traditional energy market is heavily based on a number of coal-powered generators sending energy one way from the plant to the customer. Project EDGE aims to turn the energy market on its head to put local generations at the forefront of the national energy market.
The aim is to revolutionise the electricity grid. Imagine lower-cost electricity and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. The recent COP26 summit in Glasgow highlighted the need to reduce emissions by 50 percent by 2030.
Project EDGE makes it possible for all local households and businesses to do their part. Reduce emissions and save on electricity costs.
The powerful benefits for home and business owners include:
- Cheaper batteries that allow participants to sell their unused renewable energy reserves
- Lower emissions, more affordable energy, and fewer blackouts
- Less confusion, more benefits: bigger volume of renewables sold to the grid helps achieve a cleaner energy future nationally but produced locally
- Participants become part of a trusted, dependent, environmentally friendly power station helping to transform to a renewable-based-energy grid rapidly
- Customers can use their battery power to boost resilience on extreme weather days
- Wangaratta plays an important role in a Federally funded project to assist Australia in continuing its journey towards becoming a global leader in energy innovation
For further information on Project EDGE, or to express your interest in joining the Australia first energy market sharing project, please visit: EDGE | Mondo
** Article sourced from Wangaratta Chronicles and Wangaratta Landcare Sustainability Inc.