YEF wins a third round of funding from the Neighbourhood Battery Initiative
We are thrilled to announce that we have won $200,000 from the Victorian Government under the third round of the Neighbourhood Battery Initiative (NBI) to assist 22 local governments develop a business case for a neighbourhood battery in each of the municipalities.
The announcement was made by the Hon. Lily D’Ambrosio, Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, and for Solar Homes, this week for their third and final round of the $10.92 million initiative.
Alongside this announcement, the first round of grants under the Victorian Government’s $42.2 million 100 Neighbourhood Battery Program is now open. This new program will offer $10 million in funding to fund 100 batteries across the state.
“We are delighted by the announcement and thoroughly excited to work with the 22 local governments in pursuing the business cases for neighbourhood batteries,” said Mr Dean Kline, YEF’s CEO.
“I commend the leadership and forward-thinking nature of the Initiative and thank Minister D’Ambrosio for enabling YEF to help even more communities across the state with this funding.”
The local government areas covered in this project include:
- Banyule
- Bayside
- Boroondara
- Hobsons Bay
- Hume
- Kingston
- Knox
- Maningham
- Maribyrnong
- Maroondah
- Monash
- Mornington
- Nillumbik
- Port Phillip
- Queenscliffe
- Stonnington
- Surf Coast Shire
- Whitehorse
- Whittlesea
- Wyndham
- Yarra
- Yarra Ranges
YEF also plans to collaborate and conduct knowledge sharing with many of the Victorian Greenhouse Alliances, to amplify the impact of the project, including:
- Western Alliance for Greenhouse Action
- Northern Alliance for Greenhouse Action
- Eastern Alliance for Greenhouse Action
- South East Councils Climate Change Alliance
- Barwon South West Climate Alliance
- Central Victorian Greenhouse Alliance
In addition, YEF will be supporting Yarra Trams which have also won funding under this round of funding for business cases across 10 sites for neighbourhood batteries.
In September 2022, the Victorian Government announced the first renewable energy storage targets of at least 2.6 GW by 2030 and 6.3 GW by 2035 as the state works towards 95 per cent renewable energy by 2035.
In addition to helping meet the storage goals, neighbourhood batteries will also to cope with an energy system powered by variable renewable energy.
“To enable our homes to be powered mostly with renewables, we need a lot of storage to smooth out the variability of that supply,” said Mr Kline.
“As our homes, businesses and cars begin to transition to electric, we must provide the necessary support in the form of dispatchable storage to ensure this renewable supply of energy continues to be smooth, stable, and reliable for customers.”