The first battery installed under the Community Battery Funding program, located in Bexley North.
Expressions of interest are now open for the $46.3m second round of a national funding program for community batteries. Here’s what it all means and how to apply.
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) on March 17 opened EOIs for funding in the latest round of the $171m Community Batteries Funding Program.
Chemical batteries between 50 kW to 5000 kW in size are eligible. Grants of between $5m to $20m are available for projects with ten batteries, with funding to not exceed 50% of the battery project cost.
Batteries that are co-located or share a connection point are considered a single community battery.
The first round saw conditional approval of $143m in funding to deploy 370 batteries, totalling 136 MW of power capacity and 281 MWh of energy storage capacity.
Where Do Community Batteries Get Installed?
In a webinar held on March 17, ARENA manager Geoffery Erder said that most successful applications in round one “involved ground-mounted projects near parks and community facilities”.
However some projects were installed on existing utility poles or purpose-built poles, offering the advantage of taking up less ground space.
Network batteries were proposed as front-of-meter, located in public spaces like parks, power poles, or distribution substations.
All the non-network batteries except one were behind-the-meter and were proposed at a range of facilities including aged care housing, farmland, sporting complexes, schools, shopping centres, showgrounds, caravan parks, train stations, carparks, libraries, swimming pools, a childcare centre, a vineyard, a hydro-electricity facility and a quarry.
Erder added that although batteries at individual residential households will not be eligible for grant funding, “a block of units may be a different proposition”.
The percentage of projects approved in round one that aim to share community battery benefits in six different categories.
Which Projects Have Already Been Backed?
Ausgrid installed the first community battery approved under the scheme, a 267kWh battery in Bexley North that supports local power reliability and is also connected to an electric vehicle charger.
Another successful applicant in round one was GemLife, an organisation that offers “luxury resort living for the over-50s”. GemLife secured support for deploying 10 behind-the-meter batteries at a mix of 8 existing and greenfield over-50s communities across regional Queensland, NSW and Victoria.
The batteries will be incorporated into a network alongside rooftop solar, supporting lower network demand charges, with estimated savings of between 64 – 85% at existing sites in Maroochy Quays, Pacific Paradise and Woodend.
GemLife will engage a service provider to operate the batteries in a VPP and access NEM market revenue sources, with the project including development of a real-time energy dashboard that publicises the battery performance and utility data.
Another proposal plans to test the use of batteries to increase resilience of NBN, Telstra and public transport critical infrastructure. When back-up power isn’t required, the batteries will operate as normal, trading in energy and FCAS markets and facilitating increased solar generation. Communities are also expected to experience higher reliability of their mobile phone, NBN and rail services.
One of the other projects includes a community battery capable of providing emergency disaster support for a community refuge centre available during bushfires. The battery will also be equipped to provide EV charging during an emergency or power outages.
The number of community batteries conditionally approved by state and territory. Three batteries were announced for the ACT in 2024 although they were not referred to in the latest ARENA announcement.
What Mistakes Should Applicants Avoid?
In the webinar I asked ARENA Director Leon Chanter what some of the biggest mistakes rejected applicants in the first round made that those throwing their hat in the ring should avoid.
Chanter said that applications should outline the explicit benefits of the proposal to the network, the reduction of electricity costs, and to solar PV uptake.
“It’s important that [the applicant] clearly demonstrate experience in delivering this kind of project, or a path to bringing in partners who have this capacity,” he said. “Also, a clear line of sight to finance, so we can have greater confidence the project can be built”.
Later in the webinar, Chanter clarified that although lithium-ion batteries dominated the first round, other technologies could be eligible — in theory. “It would be possible for, say, a flow battery to participate, but they may struggle to be competitive with a higher capex,” he said.
Who Can Apply?
To be eligible for funding, at the time of applying, your organisation must hold an Australian Business Number (ABN) and tick at least one of the following criteria:
- Be (or warrant that you will be at the time of entering into a funding agreement) an Australian entity incorporated under the Corporations Act 2001;
- Be a Commonwealth entity prescribed as a government business enterprise by section 5(1) of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Rule 2014;
- Be a Commonwealth entity prescribed as a government business enterprise by section 5(1) of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Rule 2014;
- Be an Australian State or Territory owned corporation or a subsidiary of an Australian State or Territory owned corporation or
- Be an Australian local government or council or an Australian organisation that is purposed with representing and supporting local governments or councils.
What Must Be Included In The Application?
Interested applicants will need to create an account with the ARENANet Portal, with all proposals to include a project plan, budget, financial model, project funding sources. a uses table and a conflict of interest declaration.
Expressions of interest close April 30m 2025 at 11:59pm AEST.
For more detail and to apply, take a look at ARENA’s dedicated project page. For more on what to consider when buying a battery for your own home, read our comprehensive guide.
Other community battery programs also exist, including Victoria’s Neighbourhood Batteries Program, which recently green-lit battery plans for 22 Salvation Army sites.
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This is a very convoluted process in my experience, requiring a private sector buy in or an OC to provide funding. Im not sure there is much “community” about it at all. It is very difficult to get a community together at the best of times, let alone pitch to a company with money and expertise to deliver the project.
Btw. ACT is missing from the list and i think there are 3 installed.
You are correct that three ACT batteries were announced under this program in 2024 and due to be installed by the end of this month, but they haven’t been singled out in ARENA’s state and territory breakdown for whatever reason. I’ve updated the article to note this.