The University of Adelaide, in South Australia, has become the latest in a line of tertiary institutions to announce plans to install solar and battery storage in a move to cut costs and dependence on the grid.

In an project backed by the state Labor government, the University will install 1.2MW of solar and a 0.5MW/2MWh vanadium flow redox battery system at its Roseworthy campus, about an hour’s drive north of the Adelaide CBD.

SA energy minister Tom Koutsantonis says the Weatherill government is contributing $780,000 from its Renewable Technology Fund to the $5.76 million solar and battery project, which would combine to cut the campus grid supply by 40 per cent.

As well as cutting University power costs and emissions, Koutsantonis says the project would reduce network demand at peak times and thus put downward pressure on the state’s power prices.

According to University of Adelaide COO Bruce Lines, the saving on the grid from the Roseworthy system would be the equivalent to “switching off the power at more than 370 Adelaide homes for an entire year.”

Lines said the project would also help the university test the performance and reliability of the battery storage technology in hot, dry conditions, which would serve the greater interests of the industry and community.