Innovation

Electric Avenue

Innovation

Electric Avenue

Electric Avenue is our name for an exciting group of projects that are helping customers share power in their communities. These projects are rolling out neighbourhood batteries on our low voltage network.

Batteries will be an essential part of our networks in the future as we transition to more renewable energy. That is because in a clean energy future, power is plentiful in the middle of the day.

By storing energy locally, batteries perform an important role in addressing the mismatch between when renewable energy is abundant and when household electricity demand is highest in the late afternoon and evening peak. Stored energy can be shared and used when it is needed most.

They also offer other benefits in helping keep locally generated solar power local, supporting high electricity reliability and contributing to greater energy resilience. In many ways, our Electric Avenue projects provide benefits to everyone in the neighbourhood, whether they have solar panels on their roof or not.

See the links below for more information.

Battery technology offers great potential benefits for all our customers by supporting power reliability while also providing access to more renewable energy.

Mark Clarke - General Manager Electricity Networks

The battery experience

This animation tells the story of how batteries blend into the neighbourhood when located on poles or on the ground. It also explains how batteries are charged either from local rooftop solar energy or the power sourced from large scale energy generators including solar and wind farms.

The benefits of batteries

More energy is now available in the middle of the day as more renewables supply power to our homes and businesses. This animation tells this story about the role batteries play in making sure extra energy is stored locally so it can be used later when needed.

Battery safety

This animation explains how batteries are designed under strict regulatory standards to be quiet and safe for people and the environment. It also introduces some of the criteria considered for where they are located like the distance to homes, sight lines for neighbours and site accessibility.

Key benefits

Share rooftop solar

that is exported into the UE network when households don’t use all the power they generate.

Store renewables

and then use the energy when it’s needed. Batteries are charged by either rooftop solar or power sourced from large-scale generators including solar, wind and hydro.

Reliable power

on days when demand is high for example, in summer heat when everyone’s air conditioning is turned on.

Generate revenue

for communities when the power stored in batteries is also used to participate in the wholesale electricity market.