The Victorian Government is powering Phillip Island with neighbourhood batteries – helping families drive down their energy bills, use more rooftop solar and make the grid more resilient to extreme weather events.
Victorian Minister for Energy and Resources, Lily D’Ambrosio, and Member for Bass, Jordan Crugnale, officially opened six out of seven completed neighbourhood-scale batteries across the island, funded as part of the 100 Neighbourhood Batteries Program.
The batteries are a joint project of Mondo Energy, Bass Coast Shire Council and Totally Renewable Phillip Island, to install a combined 900kW/1845kWh of energy storage capacity, across seven locations in Cowes and Wimbledon Heights.
Neighbourhood batteries put power back in the hands of local communities – soaking up cheap renewable energy during the day when it’s plentiful and delivering it back to households when it’s needed most.
In places like Phillip Island, they can also improve energy resilience by keeping the power flowing during extreme weather events and enable the addition of more solar to the energy grid.
The batteries will generate thousands of dollars of energy savings and income, which will be put towards a Community Fund, with annual donations over 15 years to support further projects to help the community.
The 100 Neighbourhood Batteries program is supporting 90 batteries across the state, supporting a wide range of community organisations, not-for-profits, places of worship and public entities with their energy bills and access to renewable energy.
The Victorian Government said that neighbourhood-scale batteries are contributing towards its goal to achieve at least 2.6GW of energy storage capacity by 2030 and 6.3GW by 2035 – energy to power around half of Victoria’s current homes at their peak energy use.
Round 3 of the 100 Neighbourhood Batteries Program is currently open, and applications close on Monday 15 September 2025. For more information on the program and to apply visit energy.vic.gov.au/grants/neighbourhood-batteries/100-neighbourhood-batteries-program-grants
Ms D’Ambrosio said that the 100 Neighbourhood Batteries Program is helping community organisations capture and store clean, free renewable energy for the benefit of all Victorians.
“Victoria is the home of batteries and we’re making sure places like Phillip Island are powered up with cheaper, cleaner energy for local families and communities,” she said.
Mr Crugnale welcomed the launch of this project.
“We’re pleased to open this significant neighbourhood battery project on Phillip Island which will deliver broad and long-lasting benefits for the local community,” he said.
