Community Batteries Funding

The CBF objective is to fund activities that contribute to one or more of the following outcomes:

• 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 Budget Measure 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

Stream A

• Applicants must be an approved DNSP as listed in the CBF guidelines

Stream B

• Applicants must be eligible under the Advancing Renewables Program (ARP), excluding the DNSPs listed in the CBF guidelines

The ARP Guidelines requires applicants:

• hold an ABN at the time of applying, and
• be (or warrant that you will be at the time of entering into a funding agreement) an Australian entity incorporated under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), or
• be a Commonwealth entity prescribed as a government business enterprise by section 5(1) of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Rule 2014, or
• be an Australian State or Territory owned corporation or a subsidiary of an Australian State or Territory owned corporation, or
• be an Australian local government or council

See the CBF and ARP guidelines for full details of eligible and ineligible organisations.

Community batteries are chemical batteries of at least Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 9, in the range of 50 kW to 5000 kW nameplate capacity, connected in 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 at that point of connection.

It is expected that projects under the current round:

• involve deployment of a minimum of five batteries
• have an ARENA Grant funding request range from $3 million to $20 million; and ARENA’s funding will not exceed 100% of Battery Capex Cost
• are Front of Meter Configuration (FTM) for Stream A
• are Front of Meter Configuration and/or Behind the Meter (BTM) for Stream B

Batteries at individual households will not be eligible for funding.

See the CBF guidelines and FAQs for full details of eligible projects.

Stream A 

• Batteries connected in a front of the meter (FTM) configuration, that meet the requirements of the Scope of Activity

Stream B

• Batteries connected in a front of the meter (FTM) or behind the meter (BTM) configuration, that meet the requirements of the Scope of Activity

See the CBF guidelines for full details of eligible activities.

Eligible expenditure items are:

• expenditure on the preparation of contracts entered into for the purposes of undertaking the activities required for the conduct of the Activity
• labour expenditure, such as salaries and wages, including reasonable on-costs for personnel employed directly on the Activity
• administrative expenses, including expenses incurred on communications, accommodation, computing facilities, travel, recruitment, printing and stationery, directly to the Activity
• expenditure for plant installed for the Activity at the full delivered cost of the plant
• expenditure on plant used for the construction of an Activity
• expenditure activities that directly contribute to or enable knowledge, including database development, websites, applications and reports
• expenditure on legal, audit and accounting costs related directly to the Activity
• expenditure related to the raising of funds for the Activity, or the formation of consortia or joint ventures or other partnering arrangements, directly to the Activity
• expenditure such as relevant licence fees or intellectual property purchase costs, where the Applicant needs to access specific technology to undertake the Activity
• expenditure related directly to obtaining government approvals to undertake the Activity

Expenditure items that are not eligible are:

• expenditure related to the general operations and administration of the Applicant or Recipient
• expenditure on activities that a local, state, territory or Commonwealth government agency has the responsibility to undertake, unless the Applicant or Recipient can demonstrate to the satisfaction of ARENA that the expenditure is related to a co-contribution
• interest on loans for new and pre-existing capital items used for the Activity
• expenditure on the acquisition of land for an Activity
• sales or promotional activities that do not support directly the successful completion of the Activity
• geothermal license retention fees
• membership fees
• donations
• expenditure that does not support directly the successful completion of the Activity

Expenditure is generally not eligible if undertaken prior to the signing of the Funding Arrangement.

See the guidelines for full details of eligible and ineligible expenditure.

EOI

Project Plan (of maximum 20 pages) document to include (at a minimum):

• summary of the project
• list of key Activity Partners and their proposed roles and responsibilities
• status of any development, planning and environmental approvals, permits and/or licenses required for the project
• approach to grid connection
• approach to land access for the proposed project location(s)
• timeline for the project, including key milestones
• approach to managing potential cost overruns, and amount of contingency allowed.
• evidence to support budget estimates
• an outline of key risks and approach to management and mitigation
• approach to community consultation
• status of Ring-fencing waiver (for applications under Stream A, where required)
• a dynamic financial model (in excel format or similar)
• a list of Batteries (using the template provided)

Full Application

Project Plan document to include (at a minimum):

• summary of the project
• list of key Activity Partners, their proposed roles and responsibilities and details of their relevant experience of successfully delivering battery or related energy projects
• status of any development, planning and environmental approvals, permits and /or licenses required for the project and anticipated pathway and timing to finalisation
• status of grid connection application(s)
• status of land access for the proposed project location(s)
• timeline for the project, including key milestones
• approach to managing potential cost overruns, and amount of contingency allowed
• an outline of key risks and approach to management and mitigation
• an outline of the sources of funds required for the lifetime of the project
• evidence to support budget estimates
• details on the proposed operations and maintenance regime for the lifetime of the asset
• demonstration that the project would not be able to proceed without the requested Grant Funding
• evidence of appropriate insurance for the project activities
• status of Ring-fencing waiver (for applications under Stream A, where required).
• an appendix noting responses to any EOI stage feedback
• a dynamic financial model (in excel format or similar)
• a list of Batteries (using the template provided)
• a risk management plan
• a community consultation plan
• knowledge sharing compliance
• funding agreement compliance
• partner letters of support

See the guidelines for full details of project plan and other information requirements.

Applications are submitted using ARENA’s Grants Management System, ARENAnet.

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