A neighbourhood battery will be installed locally if the Labor government is re-elected at the November election.
The state government announced it will invest $42 million to install 100 neighbourhood batteries across Victoria, including in Hume, Macedon Ranges, Whittlesea, and Maribyrnong, increasing the number of homes with access to a battery and providing extra storage capacity for local communities.
Increasing storage capacity will mean more households can reap the rewards of returning surplus solar-generated electricity to the grid through feed-in tariffs, meaning more households will have access to cheaper renewable energy even if they don’t have their own solar panels, the state government said.
“Victoria is the battery capital of Australia with a world-leading storage target, now we’re building 100 neighbourhood batteries across the state to make sure all families can share the savings from our solar boom,” Premier Daniel Andrews said.
Neighbourhood batteries will store clean, cheap energy when it is abundant during the day and feed it back into the grid when it’s needed at night, the state government said.
Labor will initially install batteries in 28 communities across Victoria – 15 in metropolitan Melbourne and 13 in regional Victoria.
