Residents in Melbourne, Australia, will this year begin moving into a new suburban neighbourhood where they will find a warm community spirit and an unusually sunny welcome waiting for them.

EnergyAustralia has teamed up with a property developer and a homebuilder to create a microgrid community of sustainable, solar-powered homes called Solstice Precinct in the Melbourne suburb of Wollert, on the city's northern fringe.

The development comprises 32 townhouses with 4kW solar systems, four more townhouses with 3kW systems, and a residents’ club with a 70kW system, all of which will store and share solar power generated from their rooftops.

The microgrid at Solstice Precinct will be supported by a centralised 100kW/270kWh battery energy storage system at the residents’ club. 

The development is supported by the Victorian government’s Microgrid Demonstration Initiative. Each townhouse will have its own solar system together with a smart home solution that provides visibility and control of energy generation and consumption.

Energy not consumed within a home will be stored at a centralised battery at the residents’ club and controlled by an intelligent microgrid platform that will manage the energy flow across the whole community, and from the national grid. 

Microgrids are local energy systems that generate power close to the people they serve, overcoming the inefficiency and reducing the energy loss created by long distance transmission lines from centralised grids.

Residents are expected to be able to reduce their electricity bills by up to 50% through the combined benefits of their solar system and the microgrid. As an additional environmental benefit, any energy generated by the microgrid and not consumed by Solstice Precinct will be fed back into the national grid.

A blueprint for low-carbon living

EnergyAustralia Chief Customer Officer Mark Brownfield says he believes Solstice Precinct will serve as a blueprint for sustainable living in future communities across the country.

“Our purpose at EnergyAustralia is to lead and accelerate the clean energy transformation for all, from small community projects to providing clean energy for the state,” he explains. “What’s so exciting about the Solstice Precinct microgrid is that it demonstrates what can be done at a local level.

“The technology helps residents become self-sufficient, gives them control over their energy use, and reduces their bills as well as their carbon emissions. We believe what we’re doing in Wollert is the start of more community energy solutions being rolled out across Australia.”

Solstice Precinct is the latest innovative step towards greater sustainability by EnergyAustralia as it helps lead the way in the country’s energy transition.

The company is currently building a huge 350MW battery energy storage system named Wooreen, in the Latrobe Valley region of Victoria, which will be the biggest battery system operating in Australia when it goes into operation in 2026.

It is also offering customers the opportunity to cancel the emissions from their electricity and gas use through its popular Go Neutral carbon offset programme.

Brownfield stresses: “We have our eye on the big picture too. We recently updated our Climate Change Statement with a clear commitment to have net zero emissions by 2050, to be out of coal by 2040, and to reduce our direct emissions by 60% by 2028/29 from 2021 levels.”

As part of this process, EnergyAustralia has announced the early retirement of the coal-fired Yallourn Power Station by mid-2028. It is also building Australia’s first net zero emissions gas and hydrogen-capable power plant, as well as developing pumped hydro energy storage.

“All this shows that we’re not just dreaming about the clean energy transition, but taking action to make it a reality,” Brownfield says.