Smart Energy Communities Tea Gardens

Last week we reached a significant milestone by issuing the first five Dynamic Connection Agreements (DCA) to residents with eligible solar systems. The DCA allows Essential Energy to manage inverter settings to achieve higher export limits when the network can accommodate it which in turn enables residents to increase solar export limits providing a better return on their solar investment.

As a reminder, eligibility primarily depends on the inverter compatibility with the Common Smart Inverter Protocol (CSIP) as defined by the Clean Energy Council and other requirements including an internet connection to the inverter.

Out of the 286 premises at Tea Gardens, 18 premises were eligible, with five premises signing up to the first phase of the rollout.

If you would like further information or clarification, please contact us on smart.energy.communities@essentialenergy.com.au.

For more information, please read the DCA Factsheet, DCA Explainer or the DCA Questions and Answers.

We wanted to share with you that we were recently advised that Palm Lake Management in QLD have withdrawn support for the battery project at Palm Lake Tea Gardens. Whilst this is disappointing, we fully respect their decision. Our Smart Energy Communities trial is still active at Palm Lake which means that we are progressing with the Dynamic Connection Agreements with residents that are currently eligible. Essential Energy remains committed to delivering value to customers, and we thank all parties for their input thus far and we will share more information as soon as we can.

On Wednesday the 18 October we came to present to the community on our progress. We had a good turn out in the theatre and had some really productive conversations. Your concerns and questions are crucial to the success of this trial. Most of you would be aware, we sent out a survey a few weeks ago to ask for the communities' thoughts and concerns regarding the proposed batteries. Whilst we had over 70 responses it's really important everyone has their say, so if you didn't get to the survey, it is still open, and we would appreciate you completing it.

We have also added a paper-based survey here you can print out if you prefer pen and paper and return it to us.

During the session there was many relevant questions that were asked, and we did our best to give you the most up to date answer we have. Please be assured we have captured all of them from both the session and the survey and will endeavour to answer them as we get the information required. As you can appreciate being in a trial means that sometimes we take a little longer to come back with answers. We have now published in our Frequently Asked Section the Questions and Answers that we have the detail for, and we will answer the others as we are able.

We are planning to be up there before Christmas and will send out an invite in the coming weeks!

In the meantime, we encourage you to go on and ask any questions you have through the Ask Essential channel.

On a positive note, we did have 81% of respondents in the survey want a battery in Palm Lakes Resort and 73% of respondents in the survey have no concerns in regard to a proposed battery.

Thank you for always making us feel very welcome when we visit!

We want to hear from you!

We are currently reviewing tender submissions for the proposed battery at Palm Lakes Resort. We issued a survey last week so we can hear how the PLR community is feeling about the proposed battery, and more importantly so we know what your main concerns are. This will also help us to understand what aspects of the battery you are most interested in. This information will also be used to evaluate the battery options.

We plan to visit PLR in mid Oct 2023 (date to be set) to discuss your feedback and to explain the next steps in the Smart Energy Communities trial at Tea Gardens.

Essential Energy CEO John Cleland says distributed networks can accelerate the switch to renewable energy.

If you’re interested about how energy is changing in our world then Listen to this Podcast where John Cleland, our Essential Energy CEO, talk about how he sees the continued building of capability as crucial for renewable energy, and surprisingly what we currently have available to us on our grid today.

He also speaks about electric vehicles, and their role in our future, including the considerations Essential Energy need to make, the challenges we face as an organisation, and the important role these cars play in providing net positive energy to both the grid and our communities.

Exciting News! You may have noticed your Wattwatchers app looks different.

Wattwatchers released version 2.0.0 of the My Energy app which includes the new Flow feature (the new app home screen).

'Flow' will provide more insights to your power usage, please click and read the documentation for more information and support if needed.

Share your thoughts about the new look on the Wattwatchers devices chat in the Community Chat section of this website.

Did you see us walking around the village on Monday 21st August?

As part of the public tender issued on 7th August,2023 for the three community batteries in Tea Gardens, suppliers inspected the Palm Lakes Resort site. When the tender closes on the 5th September 2023 we will review submissions and provide you with an update as soon as we can. This may take a few weeks but there will be plenty of opportunity to give us your feedback and ask questions.

As each stage of the Smart Energy Communities Trial is planned Essential Energy will release further information and invite trial customer participation.

In June 2023 Essential Energy visited Tea Gardens Palm Lakes Resort, to outline the plan for Stage 2 of the Smart Energy Communities Program trial. Discussion included an overview of Stage 1 (Energy Visibility) and explanation of the two main components of Stage 2;

- Fixed Solar Export Uplift

- Dynamic Connection Agreements Opportunity

In April 2023 Essential Energy visited Tea Gardens Palm Lakes Resort to record the experience of some Smart Energy Communities trial residents. The footage captured is available on You Tube here.