UNSW, Voltval pilot AI-enabled shared battery storage for apartments

UNSW Canberra has partnered with energy technology company Voltval and JT Solar Technology to pilot an AI-powered system designed to coordinate rooftop solar and shared battery storage across apartment buildings, said the university.

Voltval and JT Solar developed the underlying platform, the Modular Power Portal System (MPPS), which integrates rooftop solar generation with shared battery storage for buildings under strata (shared-ownership multi-unit) or other multi-unit ownership structures. The system splits solar output across individual lots within a building, according to Voltval, and is installed in common areas and designed to work with existing building wiring and layouts.

UNSW said it will add an artificial intelligence layer to the MPPS to forecast energy generation and demand, coordinate distributed energy resources, and balance electricity flows between apartments in real time. The university said the partnership is supported by a AUD 1.2 million ($828,000) grant from the Australian government’s Trailblazer for Recycling and Clean Energy (TRaCE) program.

Dr. Ripon Chakrabortty of UNSW Canberra’s School of Systems and Computing said the project aims to develop and validate AI-enabled technology for coordinating shared solar and battery resources in high-density buildings. Associate Prof. Huadong Mo, who co-leads the project, said the work is expected to increase renewable energy use and lower operating costs for participating buildings by as much as 30%.

More than 2.5 million Australians live in apartments, according to UNSW, and access to rooftop solar in multi-unit buildings has lagged behind single-family housing. In New South Wales, where one in five homes is an apartment, just 3.5% of apartment dwellers have access to rooftop solar, the university said, citing complex shared ownership structures, outdated metering infrastructure, and buildings not originally designed for distributed energy systems as key barriers.

The project will involve a multi-site pilot across commercial and residential buildings in Sydney, according to UNSW, with performance data intended to validate the system before broader deployment across other building types.

Jason Jiangang Xiao, director of JT Solar Technology, said the UNSW partnership provides the research depth needed to validate the technology and support its commercialization. He said the barriers limiting clean energy adoption in Sydney’s apartment and strata developments exist in dense urban environments worldwide.