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Our stories and events

New report shows what operating a community battery was really like in FY23-24

Read the Year 2 Performance report here

 

Yarra Energy Foundation (YEF) has released a report on the operations of the Fitzroy North community battery over the financial year 2023-2024.  

Following the first year report, the second year report is similarly detailed about the events, failures, and overall performance of the system – including some surprises. 

The report details the battery’s operational and financial performance, including $8,423 revenue generated from energy arbitrage and the network tariff.  

Significant downtime due to equipment failures and software issues hampered revenue, while a power spike issue prevented participation in the frequency control ancillary services (FCAS) markets.  

A comparison to a hypothetical “perfect foresight” scenario reveals high potential for increased revenue through optimisation of the dispatch engine.  

Looking forward, YEF will be focusing on FCAS market participation and further performance improvements to realise this untapped potential. 

 

Performance snapshot 

Energy charged / discharged: 81.05 MWh / 64.08 MWh 

Revenue: $8,423 ex-GST (after metering and market charges) 

Revenue against perfect foresight: 39-54% 

Roundtrip efficiency: 79.06% average (range: 62-84%) 

Downtime: 11% of the year 

FCAS: FY24-25, entering FCAS markets – 6, 60 and 5-minute contingency raise and lower markets. 

 

 

 


 

 

 

The year’s main events 

Acacia-AEMO data interface issue 

During the peak pricing event 13 February 2024, the post-dispatch price signals were delayed (arriving >90 seconds into the trading interval) and the AEMO pre-dispatch price remained <$300/MWh.  

As a result, the Acacia software platform used pre-dispatch prices to inform dispatch commands costing YEF $320 that day alone, equivalent to about 2-3 weeks of revenue under normal conditions. 

Summer outages

Due to a series of overlapping issues, including battery module and inverter failure, and software integration issues, the battery experienced a significant downtime over the summer leading into January 2024, which impacted revenue significantly.  

Increased parasitic loads

Parasitic load consumption from Pixii’s monitoring equipment was high which increased energy consumption and reduced revenue. The marked increase in distance between the two lines around March-April 2024 show the magnitude of energy losses. 

Battery air conditioner failure

An air conditioner on one battery cabinet failed in mid-April 2024 due to the malfunctioning of the thermostat control. We believe this was caused by insects nested on the control circuit board.  

 

 

Key learnings 

  • Avoid major system updates on Fridays or immediately before a holiday. System updates introduce the risk of unexpected behaviour. Implement when you have staff available to manage possible issues. 
  • Reduce downtime with better system monitoring. Better system monitoring could allow for 24/7 identification of issues, and result in faster response times and reduced system downtime. 
  • Control and software issues can require complex diagnostics, development, and testing. Power spikes prevented participation in FCAS markets. Resolution required significant testing, software fixes, and time. 
  • Dispatch engines are only as good as the input data. Consider risks of data lags that could cause financially detrimental BESS behaviour, such as our experience with the AEMO delayed spot price signals on 13 February.