New Community Batteries Launch in Edwardstown and Magill, Australia

Social housing tenants will benefit from energy bill relief through the use of affordable and cleaner solar energy with the launch of the Edwardstown and Magill Community Batteries.

While one in three Australian households have adopted rooftop solar for cleaner energy, fewer than 1 in 40 households utilize battery storage.

The Community Batteries for Household Solar program aims to empower communities to participate in the renewable energy transition, regardless of whether they have rooftop solar.

To support this initiative, the Albanese Government is deploying over 420 community batteries nationwide.

The two 405kWh battery energy storage systems in Edwardstown and Magill, installed by the South Australian Department for Energy and Mining, are the first in a series of community batteries planned for both metropolitan and regional South Australia. These batteries will enable around 600 eligible SA Housing Trust households to save approximately $550 a year through a retail tariff that is 25% lower than the Default Market Offer in SA.

Ultimately, around 10,000 SA Housing Trust tenants will benefit from the reduced tariffs provided by community batteries.

Efforts are ongoing to identify additional sites across South Australia for more community batteries, with conditional approvals and agreements pending with ARENA, which is contributing $171 million to the $200 million Community Batteries for Household Solar program. Commenting on this, Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen MP, said:

“The rollout of community batteries is vital to making sure that everyone can share the benefits of renewable energy by storing rooftop solar energy during the day and dispatching at night where it’s needed.

“The rain isn’t constantly falling, yet we always have water on tap because it’s stored for when we need it – and batteries like the ones in Edwardstown and Magill will do the same thing for reliable renewable energy.”