Swan Hill Rural City Council in partnership with the Central Victorian Greenhouse Alliance (CVGA) secured funding under Round 1 of the Victorian Government’s Neighbourhood Battery Initiative to undertake a neighbourhood battery feasibility project in central and northern Victoria.

The program, called ‘Community Sparks’ assessed the feasibility of community battery sites in the Swan Hill area, while also investigating the potential for community battery sites within the six other local governments around the region.

Community batteries are large sized battery units embedded into a network to allow for shared battery storage. Neighbourhood batteries can provide a range of benefits, such as increasing solar export, improving energy independence and reliability for both individuals and business.

The Community Sparks project was a partnership between CVGA, Hepburn Energy, Hepburn Shire, Ballarat City, City of Greater Bendigo, Central Goldfields Shire, Swan Hill Rural City, Mildura Rural City, Mount Alexander Shire, Gannawarra Shire, and Macedon Ranges Shire.

In conclusion, the study showed that while neighbourhood batteries can provide a range of benefits, such as enabling solar, improving energy independence and energy reliability, but that without government support the business case is not viable.

Please find a copy of the final report here: https://www.cvga.org.au/uploads/9/8/3/8/9838558/20...

Further project information can be viewed on the CVGA website: https://www.cvga.org.au/community-sparks.html

Or contact Swan Hill Rural City Council on (03) 5036 2333.