UNSW, JT Solar Technology, LONGi Launch Community Power Plant at The Gibraltar Bowral

UNSW, JT Solar Technology, and LONGi have launched a Community Power Plant (CPP) at The Gibraltar Bowral, a hotel and event destination in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales. The project, supported by the Australian Government's Trailblazer for Recycling and Clean Energy (TRaCE) Lab to Market Fund, aims to demonstrate how renewable energy, battery storage, and artificial intelligence can work together to enhance energy resilience for businesses while creating opportunities for community energy sharing.

The CPP project, which includes a 290 kW rooftop solar system comprising 612 LONGi solar panels and a 200 kWh Sungrow battery system, was funded by JT Solar Technology. This system is part of a broader initiative that also includes further solar expansion and a planned 500 kWh community battery to support future community energy-sharing initiatives.

At the heart of the project is an advanced Large Language Model (LLM)-based Energy Management System developed by researchers at UNSW, led by Associate Professor Huadong Mo and Dr Ripon Chakrabortty. This platform continuously analyzes electricity demand, energy prices, battery state of charge, battery health, and grid requirements to optimize the generation, storage, and use of energy. The project represents an important demonstration of how community energy systems could operate in regional Australia.

Unlike traditional Virtual Power Plants, which primarily respond to electricity market signals, the Community Power Plant model seeks to balance the needs of energy users, battery owners, and the electricity network. Surplus renewable energy can be stored and managed as a shared resource, helping to improve energy resilience while making better use of local clean-energy generation.

Jason (Jiangang) Xiao, Founder and Director of JT Solar Technology and VOLTVAL, stated that the project demonstrates the potential of combining proven renewable energy technologies with advanced energy intelligence.

The Gibraltar Bowral project builds on earlier TRaCE-supported collaboration between UNSW researchers, JT Solar Technology, and VOLTVAL. The earlier work focused on AI-enabled solar and battery systems for apartment buildings and helped establish the foundation for broader community energy applications. The project is set to continue its evaluation through real-world operation following its launch in September 2026. If successful, the Community Power Plant model could be replicated across regional communities, hotels, commercial properties, and other multi-user energy sites seeking to improve energy resilience and maximize the value of renewable energy.

The project is a testament to the collaborative efforts between universities, industry, and government-supported innovation programs, accelerating the deployment of emerging clean-energy technologies.