Community Batteries

On this page:

Household Solar Program
Pole-Mounted Batteries
Install your own Community Battery

Community batteries support renewable energy and play a key role in allowing our network to transition to a clean energy future. These batteries store excess solar and share the energy back when energy demand is high and solar systems are no longer generating. Communities can generate, store and use locally sourced renewable energy, which receiving better value from their rooftop solar.

We have two community battery trials underway:

Australian Government's Communities Batteries for Household Solar Program
Pole-mounted batteries in partnership with Origin Energy

Australian Government's Community Batteries for Household Solar Program

We have successfully received grant funding as part of the Australian Government's Community Batteries for Household Solar Program. Work is underway to integrate batteries into the communities of Leeton, Goulburn and Maloneys Beach by early 2025.

To find out more about these projects visit our Essential Engagement page.

Pole-mounted batteries

We have partnered with Origin Energy to trial pole-mounted batteries in selected communities. Pole-mounted batteries allow flexibility of location and are placed where they can offer the most benefits to customers and the network. Trials are planned for Armidale, Bathurst, Dubbo, Port Macquarie and Wagga Wagga. Find out more about the pole-mounted battery trial.

Pole-mounted batteries provide many benefits including environmental, financial and power quality and these benefits can be shared by many, regardless of whether you produce solar or own the home that you live in.

Looking to install your own community battery but don’t know where to start?

Are you part of a community energy group looking to install your own community battery but don’t know how to get started? There are a lot of considerations to take into account when weighing up the installation of a community battery, including whether a battery is the right answer to the problem you are trying to solve.

The ANU’s (Australian National University) Battery Storage and Grid Integration Program team have developed a fantastic resource for community energy groups called the Neighborhood Battery Knowledge Hub to help community members and community energy groups build their knowledge of what a community battery is and how they work.

The knowledge hub also includes a step-by-step guide taking you through the various stages of delivering a community battery project including:

Introduction to community batteries;
Preliminary Feasibility
Design, Test, Implement and Evaluate; and
Community Engagement Guide

Other great sources of information
‘Fast-Tracking Neighbourhood Batteries – A Guide for Councils and Community’ report which includes links at the back to a range of other resources.

The Victorian Government’s Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) Neighbourhood Batteries Tools and Resources webpage which includes links to free online training for ‘concept to feasibility’ for community batteries, project readiness assessment tool, revenue cost and benefit development tool and other resources;

The Hepburn Energy ‘Community-Scale Batteries’ report.

The Hepburn Wind ‘BESS Feasibility Study’.

The Zero Emissions Noosa Community Batteries webpage including their ‘Business Plan for a Network of Community Batteries in the Noosa LGA’ report.

We strongly encourage community energy groups to familiarise themselves with the information within the Knowledge Hub as well as the other resources highlighted above. Whilst Essential Energy will have a role to play in the deployment of a community battery, there is a lot of planning and work that needs to be completed before thinking about submitting a connection application to Essential Energy, with preliminary feasibility, business model and financing considerations paramount. The Knowledge Guide helps to guide you through what is required for each of these steps.

We also suggest talking to those community energy groups who have already deployed community batteries in order to leverage their knowledge of what worked well and what lessons they have from their projects. Examples of community energy groups that have installed community batteries and provide some information on their websites are:

Essential Energy has also made available network information to help you planning your Community Battery project – you can find links to this information in the ‘Information to help you plan your project’ section above.

Community Battery Network Tariffs

Understanding the network tariff that will be applied to your battery will be an important part of assessing the financial viability of your battery. We have three approved battery tariffs and the tariff that applies will depend on the size of your battery and whether it is connected to Essential Energy’s low voltage or high voltage network (11kV and above). The three battery tariffs are:

HV connected storage/hybrid

(Tariff code BHND4LS) - customers connected to the high-voltage distribution network who operate commercial scale storage with no co-located load behind their meter.
LV connected large storage/hybrid

(Tariff code BLND4LS) - customers connected to the low-voltage distribution network who operate commercial scale storage with no co-located load behind their meter. Eligible storage is >250kW.
LV connected small scale storage

(Tariff code BLND4SB) - customers connected to the low-voltage distribution network who operate commercial scale storage with no co-located load behind their meter. Eligible storage is up to and including 250kW.

The diagram below highlights the structure of these tariffs, which are essentially the same except the HV tariff does not receive the rebate for exporting to the grid between 5pm – 8pm.