How did we get here?
Like many people I’ve been thinking about solar panels and batteries for a couple of years, waiting for the price and technology to become in reach.
However, I also figured that there must be a more efficient way of making this technology affordable and accessible to more people than individuals buying their own. I wondered if there was a way of people doing this together. Over the next twelve months I researched, attended forums on batteries and chatted to many people about the idea of a community approach to establishing a large battery shared by many people. One of these people was Chris Weir from the Bendigo Sustainability Group, he offered some great advice, he said, if you want to establish a group, start with a small number of people with diverse skills. He calls them - a ‘Ninja team’. So I spent the next 6 months forming a Ninja Team, a group of people passionate about renewable energy, acting on climate change and striving to create a new model for energy sharing. We are now a small team of people with expertise in renewables, energy, community engagement, legal and commercial business.
Our working title was Alphington Community Energy (ACE). It sounded good. However after some debate we decided that we didn’t want to be seen as just limited to one place although we wanted to focus on a local solution. Hence the name Village Power.
So our vision is this, households and local businesses generate energy from rooftop solar and excess energy is captured in a large battery. The battery enables participants to use their energy later in the day or night. The battery also plays a vital role in soaking up excess energy that may overload the network. The power distributor may also use the battery to overcome fluctuations in power supply. It’s a really a win win situation.
Over the next twelve months we met with representatives of our power distributor, Jemena; as well as Darebin Council, the Northern Greenhouse Alliance Group, Melbourne University, PowerLedger and various experts. Everyone agreed that the idea of community approach to energy generation and sharing made sense. However, it it hasn’t happened because , as they say, ‘it's complicated’. The question is how to make it happen?
One of the first hurdles is to create an operational model that enables households/ businesses to both create and consume energy ‘to become prosumers’; to support trading of energy internally and with the grid; to support the power distributor’s objectives and utilise an energy retailer. Although Village Power is a not for profit enterprise, the model needs to be commercially viable for all parties. Village Power is currently working with Darebin Council and a consulting company, Frontier Impact Group, to investigate the operating model.
Our aim is to create a model that can be replicated by other communities so they can form their own 'energy villages’ . The bottomline is that we want to support more people being able to use locally generated renewable energy’.
Graeme Martin
Past President, Village Power Inc
Long-time advocate for community projects that connect and empower people.
Convenor for Community Coalition for the Darebin Yarra Link
Coordinator for production of the 'Escape from the Claws of the Machine’ book on history of Darebin Parklands
President Darebin Parklands Association (past)
Vice President Darebin Creek Management Committee (past)