Eaton Fair Shopping Centre

Description

Eaton Fair Shopping Centre is owned by Citygate Properties and resides in the Bunbury region of Western Australia, around two hours southeast of Perth. It was already the largest regional centre down south after a second stage of extension in 2014. 

In 2021, Citygate began planning a third stage of expansion, including a 10,000 m2 extension of retail space, 2 new residential blocks and an external entertainment precinct with a 7-screen cinema. This project will transform Eaton Fair into a dynamic and vibrant town centre.

During planning, Citygate realised that the total site load after the stage 3 expansion would significantly exceed their grid connection capacity. After discovering this, Citygate began investigating solutions that would reliably bridge the gap between the site load and the connection limit.

Optimal proposed the idea of installing behind-the-meter battery energy storage and solar PV. The battery storage will comprise multiple All-In-One BESS (AiO) units from Delta Electronics, for a total power capacity of 1MW, and with a usable energy storage of 4MWh. 

The purpose of the BESS is to shave the electric power demand peaks at the shopping centre and ensure that the site does not exceed the Contract Maximum Demand for the grid connection. The BESS will also be utilised to extract maximum value from the Solar PV system, which will be installed by Smart Commercial Solar, as well as performing retail tariff arbitrage by storing lower-cost off-peak grid power and shifting to peak capacity times. 

Optimal Group’s Sales Director, Kane Ravenscroft, said, “We are delighted to be working with Citigate Properties to deliver this project. Increasingly, our energy systems can provide additional benefits to our customers to store excess behind-the-meter power and provide the ability to flex energy storage to avoid costly or delayed grid infrastructure, and in some cases deliver additional revenue or savings from arbitrage. This is our first chance to demonstrate this at scale”.

The project is currently in progress. Detailed design and procurement are complete, installation works are underway on site, and commissioning is scheduled to follow the completion of the solar PV installation. Once operational, the system will allow the expanded centre to open without waiting on additional network capacity, while improving the site's energy costs and giving CityGate greater control over its demand profile.