Over the past few years, we’ve built a small network of community batteries to share clean, locally generated power, and provide backup power to critical community sites, like emergency relief centres and hospitals. Now, with support from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), we’re about to launch our most ambitious project yet: deploying ten new community batteries across regional Victoria and Southern New South Wales.
Today, we’re launching an Equity Crowd Source Funding (ECSF) round to make this happen, and we’d love you to be a part of it. Read on to learn about our community battery journey so far and how you can help us bring reliable, affordable, renewable energy to more communities.
Our journey so far
2021 – Yackandandah Community Battery
In 2021, we installed our first community battery in Yackandandah, which has shared locally generated renewable energy to the Yackandandah Community Energy Hub ever since. This pilot put community batteries on the map. Sharing clean energy generated from a community-sized and community-owned solar and battery system. Since then, community batteries have become a large part of the national renewable energy conversation.
2022 – 2024 – Bushfire Resilience Projects
Not long after, the Black Summer Bushfires highlighted how crucial local energy storage could be in emergencies. So we worked with the Upper Murray and Tumbarumba communities to install three community batteries, providing backup power to two local hospitals and an emergency relief centre alongside 40+ smaller solar and battery energy node systems.
2022 – 2023 – Community Battery Feasibility Study
With Federal Government support, our team then assessed the feasibility of creating an entire fleet of community batteries across regional Victoria and Southern New South Wales. When new community battery grant opportunities arrived, we had sites and detailed analysis ready.
2023 – 2025 – Expanding to Yarra Junction & Wodonga
We launched a community battery in Yarra Junction and are now funded to install two more in Wodonga. We’re also finalising a second community battery in Yackandandah, in partnership with Totally Renewable Yackandandah. Each of these batteries helps store renewable electricity and share renewable energy with local Indigo Power electricity customers.
The next big step: Another ten community batteries
Thanks to a $4.24 million commitment from ARENA, Indigo Power is now set to deliver ten new community batteries. From Tumbarumba in the Snowy Valleys to Warburton near Melbourne, we’ll be focusing on:
- Critical community sites such as emergency relief centres, ensuring these vital locations can function during extreme weather events or grid outages.
- Renewable generation sites that can host large solar PV systems to charge each battery with clean energy, ready to be shared with our local retail customers during peak times.
By expanding our community battery fleet, we’re taking another major step toward our vision of powering local communities with 100% renewable energy.
Become an Indigo Power Shareholder
ARENA’s funding is an incredible boost, but we must raise $1.54 million ourselves to unlock it. We are concluding negotiations with BankWAW for part of the funds, and the rest will be raised through our Equity Crowd Source Funding (ECSF) round.
By investing in Indigo Power, you’ll own a stake in critical community energy infrastructure that delivers:
- Energy resilience: Backup power when and where communities need it most.
- Community power: community ownership of local renewable energy assets.
- Renewable energy: Storing clean electricity to be shared with local customers each evening.
By investing in Indigo Power, you’ll become part of an ever-growing network of people who care about sustainable, locally owned energy solutions.
You can now express your interest in becoming an Indigo Power Shareholder.
To express interest, head to our company profile on Birchal and then either log in or sign up to create an account and complete a simple form.
Building a future-proof energy network
Currently, Indigo Power has over 1.3 megawatt-hours of battery storage either funded and under construction, or in operation. With your help, we can grow that to over 7 megawatt-hours. That’s almost enough to offset the net energy consumption of all our customers over the entire 2024 calendar year.
These batteries will form the foundation of our clean energy asset management business – sharing more renewable energy with our customers and providing backup to places like hospitals, emergency relief centres, and community centres.
Thank you for supporting community energy
Every day, we see firsthand the difference locally generated and locally owned energy makes for regional towns. Your support keeps us moving forward on projects that truly matter. Let’s work together to power our communities with 100% renewable energy.
A reminder on investment risk
When investing, it’s important to understand the risks. Always consider the general CSF risk warning and offer document before investing.
Ben is Indigo Power’s Managing Director. He has a passion for collaborative initiatives that positively impact our communities. Ben leads our skilled and committed projects team, driving the uptake of community-scale clean energy technologies in communities around Australia.