President’s Report Feb 2025

Welcome to the Year of the Battery. Well that’s the plan.

It has been a while since the last newsletter in November so let me bring you up to speed and explain the current dilemma. I live for the day when I can say that it is all smooth sailing from now on.

If you recall from the Snake & Ladders Board, late last year we could not proceed as there was no insurance policy available to Village Power for the battery. The insurance was a requirement in the lease with Council and a practical measure to protect Village Power. Our work-around was to ask the commercial company that we had selected from our procurement tender, to take on ownership of the battery on the basis they could insure it. Yes, give them the battery funded under our grant agreement with the Victorian Government.

The company we selected is Flow Power, a commercial energy retailer committed to accelerating the transition to renewables. They also own two solar farms. Flow Power agreed to this arrangement, however this opened up a number of issues that we needed to address.

First of all in December 2023, Darebin Council supported a resolution to lease the site through a commercial lease agreement to Village Power. The new arrangement required that the lease agreement be between Council and Flow Power instead. This was supported by Councillors in a resolution at the December 2024 meeting.

The insurance blockage derailed the milestone schedule in our grant agreement with the Victorian Government. We have requested that the Government amend our contract to delay the main milestones by 12 months. This is under consideration.

Flow Power has just informed us that they will no longer continue with our project. This is a considerable setback but not the first. Our Board will meet next week to discuss options for moving forward.

So there are still plenty of balls in the air. If you are a paid member, I encourage you to attend the upcoming AGM and hear more of the details and ask questions.