Wednesday 12 March 2025

More Victorian towns will be plugged in to neighbourhood batteries, helping lower power bills, get more solar on to Victorian rooftops and provide backup power for communities during extreme weather events.

Northern Victoria will be home to 11 of 65 new battery locations being announced as part of round two of the $42 million Neighbourhood Battery Program.

These projects are:

• Cricket Albury Wodonga will receive a battery to help reduce energy costs at the sporting facility in Wodonga.
• Bright Community Centre will receive a battery to serve as a resilience hub with backup power to serve the community in the event of extreme weather events and power outages.
• Sir Edward Weary Dunlop Library in Benalla will receive a battery to serve as a resilience hub with backup power to serve the community in the event of extreme weather events and power outages.
• Y Discovery Camps at Falls Creek is receiving a battery to help lower energy costs, these savings will be passed on to vulnerable and low-income students attending the camps.
• Bonnie Doon Recreation Reserve and Marysville Community Centre will each receive a battery to serve as a resilience hub with backup power to serve the community in the event of extreme weather events and power outages.
• The Powelltown community and Reefton Fire Station in the Yarra Ranges will each also receive a battery and solar to provide a source of backup power for the community in the event of outages.
• Donald Community Power Plant will receive a battery system on a redundant Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water redundant water storage unit, to provide household electricity bill reductions.
• The Salvation Army in Mildura will receive a battery to reduce energy costs, which will allow savings and income to be redirected to frontline community services.
• Pylong Recreation Reserve will receive a battery at the community hall to serve as an emergency relief centre during events like storms, fires, floods or power outages.

Neighbourhood batteries can soak up cheap, renewable energy from rooftop solar during the day and feed it back into the homes or organisations they are connected to at night, when power usage is high. 

Other neighbourhood batteries include Housing Choices Australia sites across Melbourne, Koo Wee Rup Community Centre, Venus Bay Community Centre and Trafalgar Recreation Reserve in Gippsland, Reefton Fire Station in the Yarra Ranges, Pyalong Recreation Reserve Hall in Central Victoria and more.

These neighbourhood batteries can be paired with solar to provide back-up power to these buildings to act as community hubs for people to access power during prolonged outages.

These batteries will help Victoria reach its target of a at least 2.6 GW of energy storage by 2030 and 6.3 GW by 2035 – enough energy to power around half of Victoria’s homes. 

We’re also helping First Peoples corporations and organisations access the benefits of neighbourhood batteries with the First Peoples’ Solar and Storage Initiative – jointly funded with the Albanese Labor Government the initiative will deliver more solar and battery storage to soak up renewable energy and keep power prices down.

There are now 90 neighbourhood battery projects across metropolitan and regional Victoria. For a full list of neighbourhood battery locations visit,  energy.vic.gov.au/grants/neighbourhood-batteries.

Quotes attributable to Minister for Energy and Resources Lily D’Ambrosio

“Victoria is the home of batteries – which soak-up cheap renewable energy during the day to drive down bills for Victorian families.”

Quote attributable to Member for Northern Victoria Jaclyn Symes

“These batteries will help keep costs down and power flowing to essential services during extreme weather events so that Victorians can continue to access the help and assistance they need.”