Councils
There are a variety of roles councils could play in a neighbourhood battery project. This could be:
- ownership or investment:
- Advantages: decreased operating costs for facilities with a battery. Providing reliable power to emergency community refuges. Furthermore, grant funding is available from Commonwealth and State government.
- Disadvantages: upfront costs can be high and financial returns can be uncertain.
- enabling land/site access:
- Advantages: lower financial exposure. Councils can also demonstrate their commitment to the energy transition by supporting a battery project. The battery could also help solve local problems around poor energy reliability. The council would therefore be supporting local residents' improved energy access.
- Disadvantages: Can be a cost-intensive and time-consuming process identifying appropriate sites.
- in-kind support via community engagement and promotion. This might involve:
- securing affordable asset insurance that may be inaccessible to community groups
- providing engagement support in neighbourhoods installing a battery
- encouraging battery installations within private developments or retrofits.
Community groups
Community groups can play several roles in a neighbourhood battery. Community groups can:
- lead the project
- part or fully own the battery
- invest in the project, or
- support another project’s engagement and communications.
As a community group you have the closest relationship/s to the users of a battery. As such, you are well placed to understand and respond to local issues, such as:
- network issues of a specific area. This can be current and expected future levels of solar penetration and network conditions
- community preferences and priorities. This can include:
- the location and visual appearance of batteries
- the desire for other initiatives, such as public Electric Vehicle (EV) charging
- support for increased household solar or battery storage
- energy efficiency measures
- electrification
- concerns, questions and confusion about potential neighbourhood battery models.
Investors, businesses developers and not-for-profits
Investors, businesses, developers and not-for-profits can install a battery for any number of purposes. They might install one to support:
- a school
- a nursing home
- a sporting club
- a business park
- the development of a greenfield site
- a caravan park
- industrial, commercial, or residential operations.
For investors, businesses, developers and not for profits, battery storage:
- enables greater self-consumption of renewable energy. This includes solar power
- can mean more reliable electricity
- can mean lower electricity costs. Batteries can reduce the need to purchase electricity at times when it is most expensive, such as during the evening.
Investors, businesses, developers and not-for-profits need to consider how the project:
- delivers benefits to low income and vulnerable households
- delivers benefits to households with no access to solar PV generation. For example, renters and apartment-dwellers
- adds to finished or scheduled works that increase electrification in local communities and/or at the battery location
- demonstrates increased benefits for local electricity consumers. This is via a novel battery operational and/or commercial models
- is in network areas with poor reliability. This is important for regional areas where a battery will increase energy reliability
- is in constrained networks with solar export limits. The battery’s purpose is to reduce network constraints and increase local hosting capacity for solar
- is within one or more of the 29 Local Government Areas committed to by the Victorian Government
- delivers a greater number of batteries and faster deployment timelines
- is configured. If the battery will be in front or behind the meter, or a hybrid version.
Distribution Network Service Providers (DNSPs)
DNSPs play a vital role in:
- providing information and data to support decisions about neighbourhood battery site selection and ongoing operation
- enabling integration into the distribution network.
What DNSPs need to consider when working on a battery, irrespective of ownership:
- how they partner with organisations or communities during implementation
- how they can value a range of network services that batteries can supply.