Applications open soon for Round 2 of the Community Batteries Funding Program

On 26 February 2025, ARENA (Australian Renewable Energy Agency) announced that applications for Round 2 of the Community Batteries Funding Initiative will open on 17 March 2025. The aim of the project is to support the deployment of community batteries across Australia in order to lower energy bills, cut emissions, reduce pressure on the electricity grid and enable further distributed solar installations.

The October 2022 Federal Budget allocated $171 million to ARENA to deliver a minimum of 342 batteries. In Round 1 of the program, $124.7 million was allocated, deploying 318 batteries across the nation. The remaining $46.3 million will form the funding pool of Round 2.

Grants between $5 million and $20 million will be available, however the grant funding will not exceed 50 per cent of the battery capex.

Program objectives 

Round 2 of the Community Batteries Funding program will support projects that: 

  • Improve the economics of community battery projects through the reduction in or removal of barriers to large-scale deployment
  • Build industry capacity to deploy community batteries at scale
  • Support the integration of distributed energy resources into Australia’s energy markets and market operator systems
  • Demonstrate the benefits of community batteries by:
    • Putting downward pressure on household electricity costs
    • Contributing towards lowering emissions
    • Providing a net benefit to the electricity network, having regard to matters such as network constraints
    • Enabling storage of distributed solar energy for later use or sharing and supporting further distributed solar installations.

Most of the program’s grant funding will be allocated towards the deployment of community batteries. A small amount may be paid on the final delivery of knowledge sharing obligations and reporting, however ongoing maintenance and operational costs of the community batteries will not be funded by ARENA.

Eligibility 

What are the eligibility criteria? 

Applicants must hold an Australian Business Number (ABN). Eligible organisations include:

  • Australian entities incorporated under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) 
  • Commonwealth entities prescribed as government business enterprises by section 5(1) of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Rule 2014
  • Australian state or territory owned corporations, or subsidiaries of an Australian state or territory owned corporation
  • Australian local governments or councils; or Australian organisations that are purposed with representing and supporting local governments or councils.

Proposals must also meet the following scope of activity requirements:

  • Involve the deployment of community batteries, which are chemical batteries of at least TRL 9, in the range of 50 kW to 5000 kW nameplate capacity, connected to the distribution network. Batteries that are co-located or share a connection point will be considered a single community battery, with a total size equal to the aggregate nameplate capacities
  • Proposals will deploy a minimum of ten community batteries
  • Proposals may be co-located with other generators or loads; however, the grant funding can only be used for the community battery component.

The following will be ineligible for funding:

  • Individual household batteries
  • Projects that have received funding under the Community Batteries for Household Solar Program - Delivery of Election Commitments grant opportunity or ARENA’s Community Batteries Funding Round 1.

Assessment criteria 

Applicant proposals must address each of the following equally weighted criteria:

  • Contributes to the Round 2 objective
  • Applicant capability and capacity
  • Activity design, methodology, risk and compliance
  • Financial viability and co-funding commitment
  • Knowledge sharing.

Application process

The competitive application process consists of two stages:

  • Expression of interest (EOI)
  • Full application (upon invitation).

It is important for potential applicants to be aware of the following key dates:

  • EOI opening date: Monday 17 March 2025
  • EOI due date: 11:50 PM AEST on Wednesday 30 April 2025.

EOIs must be submitted through the ARENA portal. An account must be created to submit applications.

How BDO can help 

BDO has a track record of successfully securing numerous government grants for a range of clients. We assist with the preparation of applications and can also help recipients understand novel changes to the program.

If you have any questions regarding the Community Batteries Funding Program or any other government grant programs, please contact the R&D and Government Incentives team.