About us
The low-down on who we are and how we got here.
Village Power is the brainchild of a group of dreamers who want cheaper, cleaner power for all.
We like local everything: local food, local community, local schools. So we thought, why not local power? We can generate our own energy via solar panels on our roofs, use it ourselves, and sell the excess to our neighbours.
This turns out to be more difficult than we expected as the rules for the electricity market assume that power is generated at large wind farms or coal-fired plants a long way from where it is used. Our current system relies on power transactions that start with electricity generators, then go via the transmission and distribution network, finally through energy retailers to your home. In Victoria less than 20% of this power is generated renewably.
We are dreaming of a future that looks very different. We want to make it possible to buy and sell local, renewable energy.
How we got here
2017-2018
Ninjas
Graeme spoke to many people about community energy including Chris Weir from the Bendigo Sustainability Group who recommended forming a “Ninja team, a small group with specific skills.
Pizza brainstorming
Group started to meet to brainstorm how the community could take climate change action to increase local renewable energy. Antony’s homemade pizza oven was the prime spot.
2018
Village Power Inc
Village Power Inc: After much discussion the group landed on Village Power as the name and held the first formal meeting to establish Village Power Incorporated Association
Difficult but necessary
After much more discussion and research, VP settled on the idea of an in-front of the meter community battery as the most promising solution to allow locals to share rooftop solar energy – which would motivate additional installations. We were told that it wouldn’t work for many reasons, but we were determined to continue; we knew it would be difficult but were convinced it was the right way to effect bigger change.
Is this really new?
We went looking for the best model, and so VP convened a workshop of community groups, local government and state government representatives to understand the status of local community energy initiatives and whether anyone had established a model for community batteries. There was no functioning model for community-scale batteries in sight.
Consultation, consultation consultation
VP met with representatives of our power distributor, Jemena; as well as Darebin Council, the Northern Greenhouse Alliance Group, Melbourne University, and various experts to understand how to make this work.
Learning from others
City of Melbourne shared research they had conducted into community attitudes to energy initiatives. VP convened a workshop with City of Melbourne representatives as well as other industry players to share experiences and research.
2019
Feasibility study
City of Darebin funded a $20,000 Feasibility Study that was undertaken by Frontier Impact Group. This was a desktop study that investigated the financial and technical feasibility of the proposed VP model. Frontier Impact Group consulted with Jemena. The findings from the study highlighted that while technically viable, the financial cost to benefit ratio was low given the high price of batteries.
Website
Website: We got a sophisticated new website courtesy of Laura, from Hatch Labs
Consultation, consultation, consultation
VP continued to meet with representatives of Jemena; Darebin Council and became acquainted with block-chain energy management system experts Power Ledger and a number of other energy players.
2020
Concept Paper
It became clear that community batteries as part of the distributed energy system were a new concept. To increase understanding of the model VP reconfigured and tested the proposed business model and distilled our extensive research into a White Paper.
Consultation, consultation consultation
A critical engagement for the year was meeting our local Victorian member with Kat Theophanous and subsequently the Dept Environment, Land Water & Planning (DELWP)’s Energy group. Commenced community outreach via Farmers’ Market.
2021
Neighbourhood Battery Initiative (NBI)
The Victorian Government through DELWP opened up grant funding for Neighbourhood Battery Initiatives. Village Power auspiced by City of Darebin was fortunate to be granted Phase One funding of $145,000 to complete a series of tasks to become battery ready. A major effort (given VP was still an all-volunteer organisation) was started to initiate the project.
Banyule Sites
VP secured funding from City of Banyule to explore and evaluate sites for batteries
Consultation, consultation consultation
VP met with representatives of Bendigo Bank and Ivanhoe Community Bank and learnt about their community start-up model. New meetings included Federal member, Ged Kearney. DELWP organised idea-sharing forums with other recipients of the NBI grants. VP joined the ‘Community Scale Battery Working Group’.
Funding commitment
Chris Bowen of Federal Labour Party commits to $500,000 for Alphington as the first of 400 batteries they will fund if they win office. Clearly community batteries are no longer a fantasy of a few fanatics.
2022
Closer to a reality
Despite all the discouragement along the way, and the message that it couldn’t be done, the energy community is starting to agree that community scale ‘neighbourhood’ batteries are actually an important part of a successful distributed energy network.
Feasibility and NBI Round 2
VP successfully completed and delivered a Feasibility Study funded by the NBI. We prepared and submitted an application to procure a battery under the next round of NBI funding but were unsuccessful.
2023
Success
With lessons learnt from the previous application, VP applied for NBI Round 3 funding and was successful. $750,000 secured to purchase and install a battery and all the associated infrastructure.
Now the hard work begins
From contract signing, VP has less than 18 months to turn our dream into reality. The first step was to contract professional Project Managers, Wave Consulting to keep us on track. Our project delivery team was established and the Technical Advisory Group convened. We are away.
2024
Many hands
There is so much to do in a relatively short period. To grow our pool of volunteer resources we held a Boot Camp and established a series of Working Groups to focus on streams of work. The streams include: Technical and retail; Communications and marketing; Financial and legal; Research & outcomes. We also activated a Community Advisory Panel.
Here are the stages of our project: what’s completed and what’s planned.
| Description | Status |
|---|---|
| Group forming and idea storming | Done |
| Initial feasibility study and business model | Done |
| DELWP NBI Phase 1 Funding: | |
| • Site selection | Done |
| • Network connection feasibility and design | Done |
| • Battery specification | Done |
| • Business model and plan | Underway |
| • Energy Management System (EMS) specification and provider | Underway |
| • Energy Retailer business model and provider | Planned |
| Demonstrated community support | Planned |
| Battery investment secured | Planned |
| Battery and installation services procured | Planned |
| Marketing of battery subscription services | Planned |
| Battery installed | Planned |
| Battery operational in NEM | Planned |
| Customer subscription services taken up | Planned |
