newy.com.au – Newcastle will receive 12 community batteries under an $11.99 million rollout backed by the Albanese Government and City of Newcastle, including a large-scale battery at Summerhill Solar Farm and smaller storage systems across council facilities.
The project, announced at Summerhill alongside Environment and Water Minister Murray Watt, is being supported by $5 million from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency through the Federal Government’s Community Batteries for Household Solar program.
It will include a 5MW/10MWh battery at the Summerhill Solar Farm and a further 11 smaller batteries totalling 3.8MWh across City of Newcastle sites such as childcare centres, libraries and public pools. The initiative has been described as one of the largest local government-led energy storage projects in the region.
Federal Member for Newcastle Sharon Claydon said the project would support cleaner and more reliable energy for local facilities.
“The Albanese Labor Government is backing the City of Newcastle to deliver community-scale renewable energy, helping provide cleaner, cheaper and more reliable power for key community infrastructure,” Ms Claydon said.
“This project comes at a time when more than 2,500 Novocastrians have already taken advantage of Labor’s Cheaper Home Batteries Program, helping households cut power bills and store more of the solar energy they generate.
“Whether it’s supporting families to install batteries at home or investing in community-scale storage projects like this one, the Albanese Labor Government is making the transition to cleaner energy work for local communities.”
The batteries will be connected to existing grid and renewable energy infrastructure, a move expected to reduce installation costs and improve efficiency. The rollout is intended to strengthen the local electricity network, ease pressure on household power bills and allow more locally generated rooftop solar to be stored and shared.
Newcastle Lord Mayor Gavin Morris said the funding would help accelerate the city’s energy transition.
“We are very pleased to receive the $5 million from Australian Renewable Energy Agency’s Community Batteries Funding to support the delivery of our battery deployment program, helping accelerate Newcastle’s transition to a cleaner, more resilient energy future,” Cr Morris said.
“The funding will support the installation of a 10MWh battery at our Summerhill Solar Farm, and a further 3.8MWh of battery storage across many other City of Newcastle facilities.
“Battery storage is the next step in our renewable energy journey, helping us maximise the value of the investment we have already made in solar across our operations.”
City of Newcastle is also expected to share learnings from the rollout with other councils considering similar community battery projects.
