The Victoria government has opened a second round of its 100 Neighbourhood Batteries Program in Australia, which has been expanded to include energy backup systems.
Neighbourhood batteries are sized to benefit whole communities and enable them to benefit from rooftop solar PV in their area without investing in a battery system for each household. Meanwhile, they are smaller than utility-scale batteries, making them easier to site and potentially quicker to construct.
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Through its Neighbourhood Battery Initiative grant programme, the Victorian state government is offering funding of up to AU$400,000 (US$267,000) per project to those who can demonstrate the multi-use case applications of such systems. Around AU$42 million is available for relevant projects.
The program covers systems comprising a neighbourhood battery, solar PV, a generator and a management system. Each battery’s minimum size is 20kW/40kWh, and its maximum size is 5MW/20MWh.
A key characteristic of this new funding round is its prioritisation of projects that provide benefits to diverse, low-income, and vulnerable households, as well as outer suburbs and regional areas.
Applications for round two of the program will close on 29 October 2024. Applicants will be notified, and a funding agreement will be executed in March 2025.
Victoria continues to support community battery implementation
Neighbourhood batteries are a type of community battery that enables groups of people to access the potential and opportunities granted by having this technology. This is something the Victoria government has been supportive of through varying initiatives.
One such initiative is named Power Melbourne, and recently saw its first community battery energy storage system (BESS) turned on at Council House.
First revealed in 2021, the Power Melbourne initiative aims to create a network of coordinated neighbourhood-scale batteries that will deliver sustainable energy back into the grid when it is needed most.
The newly installed battery system has a capacity of 450kW/1.1MWh, and the council is targeting 5MW of similar assets.
Market consultancy group Sunwiz also weighed in on the potential of community BESS in Australia, which it dubbed the “Year of the Big Battery”. The group said that adding community battery—or ‘neighbourhood battery’ projects around Australia, classified within the commercial and industrial (C&I) segment—will help drive a 50% growth in C&I installs in 2024.
It should also be noted that community batteries have captured the attention of industry renewable energy giants the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), which in July 2024 approved AU$143 million in funding to help scale the technology via its Community Battery Funding Round 1 initiative.
370 community batteries will be rolled out across Australia as part of the scheme, which is expected to benefit all states and the Northern Territory. ARENA anticipates the initiative will unlock around AU$359 million of investment in renewable energy infrastructure.
Once connected to the grid, the batteries will aim to alleviate local network constraints, increase rooftop solar PV capacity, reduce emissions, and lower consumers’ electricity costs.
