The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced conditional funding support for Indigo Power, as we continue to lead the rollout of community batteries across rural and regional Victoria and Southern New South Wales.
Indigo Power launched its first community battery in Yackandandah in July 2021 and we have since installed three more across the Upper Murray following the 2019/20 bushfires.
Indigo Power’s Managing Director, Ben McGowan, said the new batteries are an exciting new addition to the company’s growing fleet, “Community batteries are a fantastic way to deliver on our mission of connecting communities to local sources of renewable energy.”
“We have community battery projects currently underway in Yarra Junction, Yackandandah, and Wodonga, but these new batteries will allow us to take our work to new communities and increase the amount of renewable energy we’re able to share with our customers”.
The funding builds on Indigo Power’s work in communities affected by the Black Summer Bushfires of 2019/20, securing power supply at critical emergency response sites across the region.
At a time where more and more, rural communities are being hit by emergency power outages, whether caused by bushfires or storms and floods. Backup power is becoming critical. When we put community batteries at emergency response sites, they can provide huge amounts of back up power, at the same time as they provide frequency support to the grid and share energy with the local community.
“We’re thrilled to be able to share more renewable energy and build community resilience at the same time.”
Indigo Power’s application to ARENA was based on a detailed assessment of sites right across north-east Victoria as a part of a recently completed feasibility study funded under the Commonwealth Government’s Regional and Remote Communities Reliability Fund.
All states, and the Northern Territory, are expected to benefit from the Community Battery Funding Round 1 program, unlocking over $350 million of investment in renewable energy infrastructure. The batteries will positively impact local network constraints and expand rooftop solar capacity, they’ll also reduce emissions and electricity costs for consumers.
Indigo Power will finalise commercial agreements with host sites and the funding agreement with ARENA prior to launching a community information campaign, expected later in 2024.
Click here to read more about the ARENA Community Battery Funding Round 1.
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.