Battery ready solutions

Goodman is piloting battery storage alongside solar PV to help customers cut costs, reduce emissions and build energy resilience to support a low carbon economy.

Goodman recognises that battery storage has the potential to deliver significant benefits for customers. Batteries can lower electricity costs, cut emissions and improve energy resilience. That’s why, as part of our sustainability strategy, we’re piloting systems that pair batteries with solar PV to explore the most effective ways to achieve these outcomes.

What we set out to learn

Our first battery pilots, conducted in 2023, gave us valuable insights into how storage can work with solar PV. They showed us which customer profiles would benefit the most from batteries, and how to integrate them effectively into customer operations.

Testing battery storage performance in these different operational settings means we will be better placed to refine battery sizing for future developments, while also developing new ways to help customers more effectively manage their energy use.

Putting batteries to the test

In mid-2023, Goodman launched its first two Australian battery pilots to see how storage could work with solar PV in practice. Both projects paired new battery systems with existing solar to test performance in real operating conditions.

In analysing solar generation, energy use, and onsite energy storage data during these pilot projects, electricity savings of around 50% from solar alone increased to as much as 80-85% when supported by a battery. This was possible due to the energy profile of the customers participating in the pilots.

There were some learnings that would be relevant for other projects. Customers with evening or overnight activity benefit most, and careful system sizing is vital so systems remain cost-effective. We learned that there remains some data integration hurdles between different solar and battery suppliers which can necessitate extra upfront costs for specialist energy management systems to give customers a more seamless experience and greater control over their energy use.

At Interchange Park in Western Sydney, Goodman worked with Myer to install a 200kW/500kWh battery alongside a 634kW rooftop solar array on the retailer’s 30,000 sqm warehouse. Over the first 12 months, the system cut 87% of the site’s base case electricity use.