The Victorian Government will deliver 65 new battery locations as part of round two of the $42 million Neighbourhood Battery Program, aiming to helping lower power bills and provide backup power for communities during extreme weather events.
Victorian Minister for Energy and Resources, Lily D’Ambrosio, visited the Salvation Army Box Hill, one of the new community battery locations.
The Salvation Army will have batteries across 22 sites, including foodbanks, domestic violence refuges, emergency crisis accommodation, drug and alcohol rehabilitation centres and community centres.
The Victorian Government said the Salvation Army’s batteries will generate $790,000 of energy bills savings and income that will be invested back into their community services. The batteries will also provide backup power across Salvation Army sites during severe weather events when the sites are used to offer emergency support services for vulnerable Victorians.
Neighbourhood batteries can soak up cheap, renewable energy from rooftop solar during the day and feed it back into the homes or organisations they are connected to at night, when power usage is high.
Other neighbourhood batteries include Housing Choices Australia sites across Melbourne, Koo Wee Rup Community Centre, Venus Bay Community Centre and Trafalgar Recreation Reserve in Gippsland, Reefton Fire Station in the Yarra Ranges, Pyalong Recreation Reserve Hall in Central Victoria and more.
These neighbourhood batteries can be paired with solar to provide back-up power to buildings to act as community hubs for people to access power during prolonged outages.
The batteries are expected to help Victoria reach its target of a at least 2.6GW of energy storage by 2030 and 6.3GW by 2035 – enough energy to power around half of the state’s homes.
We’re also helping First Peoples corporations and organisations access the benefits of neighbourhood batteries with the First Peoples’ Solar and Storage Initiative – jointly funded with the Federal Government, the initiative will deliver more solar and battery storage to soak up renewable energy and keep power prices down.
There are now 90 neighbourhood battery projects across metropolitan and regional Victoria.
Ms D’Ambrosio said Victoria is the home of batteries, soaking up cheap renewable energy during the day to drive down bills for Victorian families.
“These batteries will also help keep the power flowing to essential services like the Salvation Army during extreme weather events so that Victorians can continue to access the help and assistance they need.”
Victorian Member for Box Hill, Paul Hamer, said, “It’s great to see communities directly benefitting from the lower bills being provided by cheap, renewable solar energy being soaked up by these new neighbourhood batteries.”
