Sarah Oliver
A community battery could be installed in Ballan with a community webinar to be held next week to discuss prospects of the project.
The Grampians Community Power Hub (G-CPH) in collaboration with the Moorabool Environment Group (MEG) will host the conference including speakers from Hepburn Energy and BREAZE Inc.
These batteries are generally located in a community and are shared amongst its residents, reducing costs and supporting the take up of solar power.
Other community benefits include improving the resilience of power supplies in the event of bushfire, assisting with grid firming during peak rooftop solar feed-in periods, and increasing community energy independence.
To assess viability, the joint groups will aim to have conversations with householders across the community and with the network providers about ownership, management and pricing and cost issues.
Ballan resident and Moorabool Environment Group committee member, Rose De la cruz said it’s an exciting possibility for Ballan.
“We, the local residents, are interested to learn more about community batteries and how it could benefit our town and reduce our carbon footprint. It’s early days but we will investigate the possibility,” she said.
An online survey is currently open for Ballan residents to give feedback and the webinar will be held next Tuesday January 11, beginning at 7pm and running till 8:30pm.
Details: bit.ly/3eXuW0B
