The Banyule community battery launch!

I was thrilled to attend the launch of a 400kW community battery on 24 April. The battery was launched by Shaun Readon, CEO of Jemena, Kate Thwaites, MP for Jagajaga and Felicity Gordon, local artist.

Banyule-Jemena-Federal Government partnership

This is a community battery awarded to Banyule City Council under the Federal Governments’ 400 community battery initiative which was an election promise at the previous election. The battery is owned and operated by Jemena. It is a ‘solar soaker’ meaning that it will stabilise the grid, leading to fewer potential or actual blackouts. In the evening, it will provide energy to 165 households for about 2 1/2 hours.

The artwork

The artwork is by Felicity Gordon, a well-known local artist, whom I and Carol Gardner (another Sustainable Macleod  member) recommended for the job and Felicity’s work is exceptionally beautiful. The battery is vinyl wrapped which means that the design was photographed and digitally applied to vinyl and then wrapped around the battery at the point of manufacture. It arrived on site as seen in the photo. This prevents the battery from being graffitied. An indigenous company in Brisbane produced the vinyl wrap.

Some history of the Banyule battery

I have been involved with getting a battery for Banyule since 2021, originally through Banyule Clean Energy Group (BCEG), which no longer exists. Randall Prearce and I applied for a grant from Banyule City Council for BCEG to commission a feasibility study for 4 batteries and was awarded $42,000, and commissioned Enhar Pty Ltd to conduct the study. I had hoped that the first battery would be situated at the Bellfield hub where it would have great visibility and an illuminated sign would inform the community in real time of what the battery was producing, and how that energy was being used, but we are very happy with the site selected. 

The site eventually chosen by Jemena is in Cyril Cummins Reserve at the south end of Liberty Parade, Bellfield. The advantage of this site is that it is in a park, opposite a Council depot, and away from houses so any noise (though always low) is unlikely to be a problem. I’m sure that as the community appreciates how little room community batteries take up and how attractive they can be as well as how they stabilise the grid, the more popular they will become.  

What we need is an extensive system of these batteries throughout Banyule. For more information on the value of batteries see my article in this edition, ‘Storage is now the issue, not generation’. 

Written by Robin Gale-Baker