President’s Report for 2024

What a roller-coaster year for Village Power Inc (VP). We began the year with our $750,000 grant and a plan to install and operate the battery by year’s end. We remained precariously on-track delivering milestones until we hit the brickwall presented by insurance in August 2024.

The notable achievements up until that point included:
● Boot camp - running a workshop to induct new volunteers
● Project deliver teams - establishing and operating mini teams to deal with different streams of work/ challenges
● Expression of Interest (EOI) - identifying and meeting with potential retail partners
● Request For Tender (RFT) - writing tender documents, running of process and selection of preferred partner, Flow Power.
● Lease negotiations - negotiations with Council
● Community Advisory Panel (CAP)- establishing the CAP and running meetings
● Technical Advisory Group (TAG) - monthly meetings with experts
● Monthly newsletters - establishing and maintaining monthly newsletters
● Website updated - website improved considerably
● Art Working Group - establishing the ArtWG and running meetings (post August)

VP required insurance to own the battery, however our research found that no policies were available to community groups and hence a roadblock to our plans to own the battery. To resolve this issue, VP asked Flow Power if they would assume ownership of the battery and insurance, they agreed to this.

Plans to complete delivery and connection of the battery in 2024 were no longer possible. VP requested that DEECA support the new ownership arrangement and changes to the contract delivery schedule. The DEECA were very supportive and a revised contract was provided in January 2025.

Further liaison was required to seek agreement from Darebin Council to directly lease the site to Flow Power. A Council resolution was unanimously supported by all Councillors at the December meeting.

The VP team has learnt a lot along our journey and are committed to sharing this with other community groups, the energy industry and government agencies. In October, we presented our experience as a Snakes and Ladders board at the All Energy Conference in October to a packed room.

Interest in community batteries and Village Power continues to grow with our paid membership base now comprising over 50 people.

Notwithstanding the many challenges we faced in 2024, I consider it a remarkable success from the point of view of the resilience that we have demonstrated and the level of commitment and dedication of the key people involved.

The year of 2025 is the Year of the Battery (or bust). As most people will be aware, our selected retailer partner, Flow Power, withdrew their offer in February. The Board agreed that we would seek to find an alternative retail partner by the end of March. Over the past 5 weeks the delivery team has contacted companies involved in the EOI last year to determine their interest in participating in a revised RFT process. Four companies were identified and were invited to respond to the RFT documentation. The documentation was revised to remove the requirement to provide direct retail services.

I would like to thank the many people and organisations that played crucial roles in 2024 (and 2025 to date) to enable the VP to keep working towards our vision: To enable the Community to take action on Climate Change through their use of energy.

Specifically, I would like to thank, the:
● Insurance - researching policies available
● Delivery team - the engine room contributing work, ideas and passion
● TAG - providing knowledge, wisdom and support
● Wave Consulting - Laura Cacho our project manager extraordinaire
● Team at Department of Energy, Environment & Climate Action (DEECA) - that have been very supportive
● Emily Dimitriadis, Councillor for SE Ward, City of Darebin and Kat Theophanous, member for Northcote - both have been very supportive especially at points of challenge
● VP Board - thanks to all the board members for your important governance contributions. In particular, two members that are stepping down.

● Antony Perri an original Ninja. Antony played a significant role in shaping the vision for VP and applied engineering sensibilities to our plans. Antony, along with Judith Landsberg wrote a landmark white-paper for VP that has been influential at a national level
● Sue Moorhen has made an enormous contribution to VP over the past 15 months, in particular in defining the tender documentation and our community reporting plans