Supporting community renewable energy
Actions One and Five of our Climate Emergency Response Plan states the Mornington Peninsula Shire will “Lead in the Climate Emergency” and “Mobilise and Strengthen Community Action”.
Delivering on this commitment, the Shire ran community workshops led by Community Power Agency (CPA) in 2021. The result of those workshops is the establishment of Repower Mornington peninsula and the following guide on renewable energy opportunities that are both feasible and desirable in the Mornington Peninsula context.
Download: Opportunities for Community Energy on the Peninsula
Repower Mornington Peninsula
Following the community workshops, a group of passionate residents established a community renewable energy group, Repower Mornington Peninsula. The Shire formalised an agreement with Repower to work together to lead community engagement and local action on emissions reduction across the Mornington Peninsula to achieve our target of net zero emissions by 2040.
With Council’s endorsement, communications, advocacy and internal resources the aim is to support each postcode community to decarbonise energy use at home and at work. The Shire is also assisting Repower in scoping large-scale local renewable energy assets and other opportunities that support vulnerable communities to access cheaper renewables and/or allow community ownership of local renewable assets.
You read more about Repower Mornington Peninsula and even join them here
Flinders Community Battery
Mornington Peninsula Shire was awarded $500,000 via a federal grant, through the Community Batteries for Household Solar Program. The grant will fully fund the cost and installation of the battery.
This follows three years of hard work by Flinders Zero Carbon Community; hosting community forums, commissioning a feasibility study, undertaking advocacy efforts and the development and presentation of ‘A Road Map To Carbon Zero’ to a community forum attended by over 90 residents. This event demonstrated the strong local appetite for energy transition efforts.
About the project
The Flinders Community Battery project will install and operate a 360kWh battery, which is estimated to support 75-100 households, allow increased grid capacity for more local solar installations, and generate revenue to subsidise solar for low-income households. The estimated emissions reduction is 22.8 tonnes of CO2e/year.
Community batteries, also called ‘neighbourhood batteries’, work like a solar sponge. They are a safe, reliable, and sustainable energy solution for shared energy storage. They store excess solar energy in the daytime for evening use. They can help reduce emissions, localise energy, and allow more properties to install solar panels and export that energy.
The battery’s revenue is expected to cover the operational costs of the battery, and any additional profits will flow to a “community benefit fund” administered by Repower Mornington Peninsula, which Flinders Zero Carbon Community is a satellite group of. The fund could be used to support more solar in vulnerable communities or other renewable projects that assist tenants or those unable to install solar themselves. This will be determined in consultation with Repower and the Flinders Community Reference Group.
What could the battery look like?
Above is the first inner-urban community battery installed by Yarra Energy Foundation in Fitzroy North. The proposed community battery for Flinders may be of similar size and form, approximately the size of four large fridges. Any artwork treatment or environmental planting will be decided by the community via the engagement process.