A trial subsidising batteries to enhance renewable energy generation will launch in Wodonga and Wangaratta this week.
'Project EDGE' runs over three years with the support of Australian Renewable Energy Agency funding.
Mondo, a commercial subsidiary of AusNet, is working with partners including Renewable Albury Wodonga Energy to identify homes and businesses to participate.
Community engagement officer Matthew Charles-Jones said the trial sought to get good results for the battery owner.
"A second thing it will be seeking to do is to improve the way that renewable energy is managed in the electricity network," he said.
"We will be testing, using their batteries, the response to both the local network conditions and the electricity market.
"What we're trying to do is to expand the value of an existing solar system, so that they can save daytime generation and use it at nighttime.
"We're also able to combine the incentives we're offering ... with the existing rebates."
The project intends to "demonstrate how a two-sided market and power system could work."
Testing will soon begin at Yackandandah and Beechworth, with Wodonga and Wangaratta testing to take place next November after parties are signed on and have batteries installed.
Mr Charles-Jones expected this "virtual power plant" would become standard across Australia.
"We've now been able to transfer data in real time between residential properties, the electricity network, and the Australian energy market operator; typically, that information has been 24 hours old when when all of the data is reconciled," he said.
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"We're heading towards a radical transition from centralised control of electricity to de-centralised control; we're putting decisions back in the hands of property owners."
Register for the launch, at 6.45pm on December 2 at the German Austrian Club, at mondo.com.au/edge.
