Community batteries are significantly larger than household solar batteries. A community battery stores between 100kWh and 5MWh of energy, whereas a typical household battery stores about 10kWh.

A 5MWh battery would store enough energy to power close to 280 average homes for a day. Community batteries are a shared alternative to individual household batteries. The cost of a household battery means that many people can't afford one. A community battery is a shared alternative and could be more efficient than if all homes in the neighbourhood had their own household battery.

Each of the batteries is connected to a City of Melbourne building and to the energy grid. They will be charged with energy from onsite solar and from the grid, and provide some energy to the building. Being connected to the grid means that the batteries can be charged when renewable energy is most available and discharge energy into the grid when it is needed most.

The pilot phase sees 1.1MWh of battery storage capacity installed across three sites. This is equivalent to approximately 85 household batteries.

Residents and businesses are not able to connect their buildings to the batteries during the initial pilot phase of the project. More information will be available during the pilot phase about a battery-linked community benefit fund and a future renewable energy retail product.

Three batteries are being installed and operated during the pilot phase. It is intended that this network will be expanded in future stages of the project, including through joint investment with other organisations throughout the city.

Involving the community is critical to ensuring community batteries create genuine and shared benefits. While community batteries, like Power Melbourne, can provide clear benefits to the energy grid and the environment by storing and sharing energy, they also provide many opportunities that can directly benefit the community. The benefits that interest the community and service the community's needs need to be defined early on so they can influence how the community battery is designed and operated. This is because different battery project models provide different benefits.

City of Melbourne is partnering with the University of Melbourne and RMIT University on the Power Melbourne project. We will continue to develop partnerships with other councils as we create a model which can be replicated and scaled across greater Melbourne and beyond.

Collectively, our organisations have expertise across the clean tech industry; energy markets, power systems engineering and smart grids. We have a proven record of successful partnerships including on the Melbourne Renewable Energy Project.

Our commercial partner to install and operate the batteries in our pilot network is Origin Zero. Origin Zero was selected following a rigorous tender process. Partnering with an established company with significant expertise will help City of Melbourne navigate this innovative pilot stage and test the model.

The Victorian Government has provided funding for a feasibility study through the Department of Environment, Land Water and Planning’s Neighbourhood Battery Initiative.

The batteries at Library at The Dock and at Council House 1 in the CBD are supported by a $750k grant secured from the Victorian Government.

No, you don’t. In fact, our objective is to provide access to affordable renewable power to residents and businesses who do not have solar panels.

You don’t need your home or business to be close to a battery to be able to benefit from Power Melbourne and sign up to a Power Melbourne electricity plan.

Your local electricity network operator determines how much solar you can export. One of the reasons these limits exist is to ensure the network isn't overloaded on a sunny day when those with solar produce surplus energy. Community batteries help to increase the network's capacity. As more community batteries are installed and the network's capacity increases, this could see solar export limits increase.

Note that in the current models being explored and tested, you will still receive the feed-in-tariff for the excess solar electricity you export to the battery and to the grid.

You don’t need your home or business to be close to a battery to be able to benefit from a community battery. You also do not need to have solar panels on your building. For example, an electricity plan associated with a battery could be available for anyone in the municipality to sign up and get access to affordable renewable energy.

When community batteries are coupled with rooftop solar or charged from the grid when renewables are plentiful, they allow cheap renewable energy to be stored and released when it’s needed most.

Community batteries help replace fossil fuel generation, enable cheaper renewables into the system, and allow the grid to handle more distributed energy resources like solar and electric vehicles.

Financial viability depends on the operating model and ownership of the battery. The Fast-tracking Neighbourhood Batteries project with City of Yarra and City of Port Phillip explored some aspects of what is required for a feasible community battery. However, as with other new technologies, community batteries will need financial support to demonstrate all the potential benefits.

A report by Orkestra commissioned by Central Victorian Greenhouse Alliance looks extensively at this topic. Read the report here.

Within a defined area of a low-voltage network, selecting a site for a community battery is primarily driven by land ownership, planning controls (such as zoning) and community preferences.

No. Before any installation of a community battery at a suitable site, a business case to determine the best way to deliver and operate a battery at that site needs to be developed.

The Fast-tracking Neighbourhood Batteries project with City of Yarra and City of Port Phillip received funding for community engagement, technical assessments and design work.

Further funding for installation of community batteries will be required.

Once the battery network is operating, data will be shared here about the batteries’ activity charging and discharging. Follow this Participate page to keep up to date when more information is available.