Community Batteries Funding Round 1
- 1 Step 1 - Read the program guidelines
- 2 Step 2 - Observe the key dates
- 3 Step 3 - Prepare your response
Background
The Community Batteries Funding Round 1 (Round 1) seeks to support the deployment of community batteries across Australia to lower energy bills, cut emissions, reduce pressure on the electricity grid and enable further distributed solar installations.The October 2022 Federal Budget provided $200 million for the Community Batteries for Household Solar budget measure to deploy 400 community batteries across Australia. Of this, $171 million was allocated to ARENA to deliver at least 342 batteries. ARENA has allocated $120 million for Round 1 and intends to allocate remaining funding to a second Round to accommodate projects that have longer development times.
How it works
The Funding Announcement details the process we will use to fund projects under the Advancing Renewables Program (ARP). Round 1 will not be a Competitive Process as defined in section 4.27-4.32 of the ARP Guidelines. Proposals will be assessed against the Merit Criteria on an individual basis. The Funding Announcement should be read in conjunction with the ARP Guidelines below (which apply to the Funding Round).
- Community Batteries Funding Round 1 Announcement (PDF 239KB)
- ARP Guidelines (PDF 327KB)
- ARENA Media release
Webinar video
Further reading
- ARENA Knowledge Bank – Implementing Community Scale Batteries
- ANU Neighbourhood Battery Knowledge Hub
- Clean Energy Council – A Guide to Benefit Sharing Options for Renewable Energy Projects
- DCCEEW Community Batteries for Household Solar Program – Delivery of Election Commitments Stream 1 and Stream 2 (this opportunity has now closed).
- Community Batteries Parliamentary Briefing (PDF 705KB)
- Community Batteries for Household Solar April 2023 Webinar Presentation (PDF 144KB)
- Community Batteries for Household Solar December 2022 Information Presentation (PDF 978KB)
Key dates
Key dates for the Community Batteries Funding Round 1 (Round 1) are outlined below. For more details, refer to the Funding Announcement.
- EOI Open Date: Tuesday, 4 April 2023 [Closed]
- EOI Due Date: Friday, 30 June 2023 at 5:00 PM Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) [Closed]
- Full Application Due Date: 29 March 2024 5:00 PM Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT)
The dates represent the current timetable for Round 1. We retain the right to amend proposed timelines and stages of the Funding Round at our discretion.
Submit your Expression of Interest (EOI) [Closed]
Expression of Interest submissions are now closed.
- Submit your Full Application
3.1: Navigate to and create an account with the ARENANet Portal.
Submit the following documents with your application:
- Financial Model in excel or similar format
- List of community battery locations using the templates provided
- Risk Management Plan (sample template below)
- Community Consultation Plan
- Statement of Knowledge Sharing Compliance
- Funding Agreement Compliance using the template provided below
Reference documents
- Community Batteries Funding Round 1 Announcement (PDF 239KB)
- ARP Guidelines (PDF 327KB)
- Funding Agreement Template (PDF 999KB) | (DOCX 206KB)
- List of Batteries Template (XLSX 70KB)
- Risk Management Plan Template (DOCX 8KB)
- Funding Agreement Compliance Table (DOCX 216KB)
Questions
Have a question? Refer to the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document below in the first instance. If your question is not answered in this document email batteryround@arena.gov.au.
Email: batteryround@arena.gov.au
