On 26 February 2025, ARENA announced $46.3 million to deploy community batteries across Australia under Community Batteries Funding Round 2 of the Community Batteries Funding Initiative.
Background
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. The Community Batteries Funding Initiative under the Advancing Renewables Program (ARP) 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.
Through Round 1 of the Community Batteries Funding Initiative, ARENA approved $124.7 million to deploy 318 batteries in all states and the Northern Territory. ARENA has allocated the remaining $46.3 million of funding towards Community Batteries Round 2 (Round 2).
How it works
The Round 2 Funding Announcement details the process ARENA will use to fund projects. Round 2 will be delivered as a competitive process under the ARP as defined in the ARP Guidelines. The Funding Announcement should be read in conjunction with the ARP Guidelines below (which apply to Round 2).
Key dates
Key dates for the Community Batteries Funding Round 2 (Round 2) are outlined below. For more details, refer to the Funding Announcement.
- EOI Open Date: Monday, 17 March 2025
- EOI Due Date: Wednesday, 30 April 2025 at 11:59 PM Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST)
The dates represent the current timetable for Round 2. ARENA retains the right to amend proposed timelines and stages of the Funding Round at its discretion.
Submit your Expression of Interest (EOI)
3.1: Navigate to and create an account with the ARENANet Portal. (EOI Open Date: 17 March 2025)
Submit the following documents with your application:
- Project Plan
- Budget in Excel or similar format
- Financial Model in Excel or similar format
- Project Funding and Sources and Uses Table in Excel – applicant must use the template provided (see reference documents)
- Conflict of Interest Declaration – applicant must use the template provided (see reference documents)
