Noosa is a step closer to owning one of Queensland’s first community batteries with Council endorsing a plan to begin contract negotiations with not-for-profit Yarra Energy Foundation (YEF).

Noosa is a step closer to owning one of Queensland’s first community batteries with Council on Monday endorsing a plan to begin contract negotiations with not-for-profit Yarra Energy Foundation (YEF). 

Noosaville and Caloundra will receive community batteries to help lower household electricity bills and reduce emissions following the first round of the Community Batteries for Household Solar Program.

Annie Nolan, Noosa Council’s Carbon Reduction Officer and Geoff Acton, Zero Emissions Noosa’s co-convenor of the Noosa Community Batteries Initiative were invited to talk at the Noosa Parks Association Friday Environment Forum on Friday 28 April 2023.

Margie Maccoll has written a great article about the event and we are most grateful to Noosa Today for publishing it, and to Di Shun Wah and the FEF Team at NPA for inviting us and treating us to an audience of over 50.

Darren Keenen and his wife Jackie, have been operating the Noosa Sun Motel on Gympie Terrace for almost 20 years.

In 2016 they made the decision to install solar panels and LED lighting and, although common today, they were trailblazers in the accomodation sector at the time.

Report on Zero Emissions Noosa’s Community Batteries session at Cooroy on Sat 18 March and reminder of Sat 25 March session the The J Noosa Junction from 9am to 12noon. ZEN is proud to announce they are leading the charge in the implementation of community batteries in the shire, and they want you to be part of it.
Read our article in Noosa Today

Zero Emissions Noosa is proud to announce they are leading the charge in the implementation of community batteries in the shire, and they want you to be part of it.
Read our article in Eumundi Voice

Zero Emissions Noosa Inc. (ZEN) is proud to announce that they are leading the charge in the implementation of community batteries in the shire.  And they want you to be part of it!
Noosa and Hinterland residents are invited to come along to interactive  sessions about community batteries being held in Cooroy and Noosa Heads. 

Geoff Acton, joint Project Leader with Vivien Griffin of the ZEN Inc community battery initiative, says “We’re really excited about this ground-breaking initiative to develop a roadmap about how Noosa households and businesses can be ‘powered by the sun at night’ with community batteries.”

Community group Zero Emissions Noosa Inc. is poised to take Noosa communities on an exciting next big step for renewable electricity generation. ZEN Inc. has been successful in getting State Government funding for a project which will identify opportunities and locations for community batteries across the shire.

More on this week's Noosa Today with Council’s centre pages spread - Your Noosa . A huge congratulations to Noosa Council for following through with our suggestion to conduct a feasibility study for Community Batteries in Noosa. Wow !

In late 2020, Zero Emissions Noosa starting researching Community / Neighbourhood batteries to help on the journey towards the goal of zero net community emissions by 2026. With Council funding we commissioned a report by experts to inform us, and a working group with strong credentials was formed in mid 2021. Follow this page to keep up to date with our progress

Leading up to May 2022 Federal Election, Chris Bowen, now Minister for Climate Change and Energy, made a number of announcements of locations for Community Batteries, assuming the ALP was voted into office.

Find out the locations for these community batteries……

Following the May 2022 Federal election, we assume the platform that the ALP took to the election will become government policy. Here’s an extract relating to “Community Batteries” from the document Powering Australia.

This article provides an extract of advice from the Community Scale Batteries Working Group,(CSBWG)

Zero Emissions Noosa is represented on the CSBWG.

On Sunday 5 June, 2022, World Environment Day, Yarra Energy Foundation launched the first of what will be a fleet of Community Batteries in North Fitzroy in inner Melbourne.
When Zero Emissions Noosa first heard of the project 12 months ago, our Community Batteries Working Group was immediately attracted to their project as something that we would like to replicate in the Noosa region.

This document is a summary of the detailed report - Facilitating Community Understanding of Electricity Battery Options for Noosa Shire - which was commissioned by Zero Emissions Noosa in June 2021.

This report has been prepared for Zero Emissions Noosa Incorporated (ZEN Inc.) as an initial investigation of the issues and potential for a Battery Energy Storage System(s) located locally on the Energex network (Local Battery).

The Noosa Shire Council (NSC) and Zero Emissions Noosa are working in partnership to achieve both organisations’ targets of Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2026.

The ZEN Inc community group and Noosa Council have received requests from community groups, businesses, bodies corporate, individuals and Councilors about the introduction of community batteries in the Noosa LGA. We have been investigating initiatives in other jurisdictions to assess their viability locally to support time shifting of excess generated solar PV, increased hosting capacity, whilst also providing network support particularly on LV feeders, all in a financially viable way.

This new roadmap will be the “Business Plan for a Network of Community Batteries in the Noosa LGA”, and will guide the pathway to grow from a single community battery, to a dozen, and in time to more than 100. We expect that this specific plan for Noosa will be able to be easily adapted to other local government areas in South East Queensland in the Energex zone, and beyond.

This project proposes the installation of a pilot community battery in the Noosa Shire in 22/23.

Battery storage at various scales is recognized as one of the important tools by which to maximize rooftop solar and address network difficulties. Ultimately a network of community batteries will be required in Noosa to act as a “solar sponge” to soak up excess solar production during the day and use at night.

Zero Emissions Noosa Inc. welcomes the announcement made last Thursday by Chris Bowen, Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy that Noosaville will be the site of a community battery.
Read the article in Noosa Today