Community batteries 101
Not all batteries are the same.
Community batteries are mid-size batteries directly connected to the distributed energy network. They typically operate to ameliorate the oversupply of energy generated by the supply of rooftop solar panels in the middle of the day which is potentially dangerous to the stability of the network. This is because it comes on top of baseload energy generated by coal-fired plants and cannot be reduced. The excess energy is used instead to charge the batteries and consequently reduces the potential for the energy network to trip or fail. So, the batteries operate as solar soakers. The loaded energy can then be used to supply both the network and consumers later in the day and evening when there is a high demand for power. This demand occurs when we come home from work and switch on the air conditioner, TV, kettle etc. The greatest impact of the batteries is on the local network hence the name community or neighbourhood batteries.
When the available energy from multiple community batteries and domestic (home) batteries is combined and operated as a collective group they become a Virtual Power Plant (VPP).
When people talk about these scale batteries, they are often talking at cross-purposes. Community batteries can be designed to support a range of outcomes.
The network providers (Distributed Network Service Providers - DNSPs) typically configure their batteries to stabilise the network and reduce the need to invest in other hardware. You could call these batteries, network batteries.
Village Power (VP) will implement a battery that will operate as a solar soaker and also make the stored energy available to local people through a retail subscription service. Households that generate excess energy from solar systems will be able to consume the equivalent energy later in the day. These households will subscribe to the VP battery to operate as a virtual battery service. Additionally, as most solar households will not consume all the energy they generate, households unable to generate electricity from solar panels will be able to subscribe to consume excess electricity.
At Village Power, we call this putting the community into community batteries. You could call these batteries, subscriber batteries.
In summary, all medium-scale batteries are solar soakers but beyond that they diverge. The primary beneficiary of a network battery is the distributor while the primary beneficiary of a subscriber battery is the community.