A Market, Economic, and Technical Analysis of a Community Solar Electricity Aggregator Approach for Local Governments to Meet Their Net Zero Emissions Energy Needs

This paper investigates the multi-faceted feasibility of a battery-enabled excess solar electricity aggregation scheme from the community, for a local government to meet its net zero emissions energy needs. The City of Melville in Perth, Western Australia (WA) was used as case study where the excess solar energy from the local community is aggregated by a retailer aside from Government-owned Synergy and is used for large-electricity consuming facilities namely LeisureFit (LF) Melville and LF Booragoon. The major regulatory barriers identified were the non-contestability of the residents' loads and the single trading relationship per connection point which limit their purchase of electricity and export of excess solar electricity to Synergy. In the economic analysis, it was found that a reduction of 48 % in the storage cost will result in LF Melville's Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE) equal to the current average cost of 0.303 $/kWh, which is attainable per projected 60% decrease by the end of 2024. For LF Booragoon, any decrease in battery cost will result in LCOEs which are still above the current average cost of 0.207 $/kWh. Results show that the proposed scheme is more beneficial to LF Melville than LF Booragoon as the latter already enjoys a lower rate through demand management of aquatic pool heating. Key enablers and supporting elements include regulatory reform on contestability and access arrangements, energy storage with realized cost reduction per projection, secondary export meters and/or advanced meters with associated infrastructures, clear contractual obligations between the retailer and the community members and the council, and local community engagement that will increase market appeal of the proposal.