The Allan Labor Government is making sure more families benefit from the massive uptake of solar and drive down their energy bills, through the first round of projects as part of the Neighbourhood Batteries Program.
Minister for Energy and Resources Lily D'Ambrosio announced 6 projects will share in over $6 million to deliver 25 neighbourhood batteries across 20 towns - delivering more than 4.2 megawatt hours of new storage capacity.
Neighbourhood batteries return power into the hands of local communities - giving them a secure energy supply by soaking up cheap and clean renewable energy when it is plentiful and dispatching it when it is needed most.
They also enable households to generate and consume more renewable energy locally - helping to drive down power bills.
Projects delivered by the Labor Government's $42 million 100 Neighbourhood Batteries program will improve local energy network reliability and remove constraints - keeping the lights on during power outages and allowing for more households to take up rooftop solar.
The largest battery project in the first round is Mondo Phillip Island with seven 100kW/250kWh batteries to be installed across the island delivering 1,750kWh storage - this will protect network reliability and deliver financial benefits for locals through a community dividend payment.
Four batteries will be installed at Queenscliff delivering 1,000 kWh of storage - as part of the project an annual community dividend will be collected from the battery to support further renewable projects through the Queenscliffe Climate Action Now group.
Other batteries being delivering include:
Indigo Power to deliver one Wodonga Neighbourhood Battery totalling 200 kWh storage
Totally Renewable Yackandandah for one battery totalling 200 kWh storage
GV Community Energy for two batteries: one at Tatura and one at Wangaratta totalling 216 kWh storage
AusNet for 10 batteries in the state's east and northeast totalling 850 kWh storage.
The next round of applications will open in August 2024, for more information visit, energy.vic.gov.au.
As stated by Minister for Energy and Resources Lily D'Ambrosio
"We're building 100 neighbourhood batteries across Victoria to make sure all families can share the savings from the massive uptake of solar."
"We're making Victoria the home of batteries - to deliver storage to soak-up renewable energy, improve the network, drive down bills and spread the benefits of local renewable energy even further."
As stated by Member for Bass Jordan Crugnale
"We're delivering a battery on Phillip Island - to soak up local renewable energy when it is plentiful and dispatch it when it's needed most."
