On 8 July 2021, we switched on Yackandandah’s first community-owned battery. The first of its kind in Australia, the 274kWh battery is connected to a 65kW solar installation and is designed to power up to 40 houses!
Launched by the Victorian Minister for Energy and Resources Lily d’Ambrosio, the community-scale battery by Indigo Power and Totally Renewable Yackandandah (TRY) is part of a push for 100% renewable energy in the town of Yackandandah.
The project will provide clean energy to members of the Yackandandah Community Energy Hub.
And we hope this is hopefully the first of many such projects across the region.”Many communities across the North East are looking at what’s happening here in Yackandandah and saying they want something similar. I think we’ll see many more community-scale batteries like this across our region,” Indigo Power’s Managing Director Ben McGowan said.
The battery was supported by $171,000 from the Victorian Government New Energy Jobs Fund, a $100,000 loan taken out by Indigo Power and underwritten by Sustainability Victoria, as well as donations from philanthropists and the local community. The launch also coincided with the end of a project to establish the town’s third microgrid trial. This project coordinated by TRY, DELWP and Mondo, demonstrates the possibilities for smarter control of network electricity flows for the benefit of residents and the network.
Check out some pics from the event below.
