In the third part of our series, So you want to install a community battery?, Dr Juliette Millbank and Mathew Charles-Jones from Totally Renewable Yackandandah share insights from TRY’s first battery project, a behind-the-meter installation on a former timber mill site, and their second, which is council-owned and focused on community resilience. TRY is a grassroots group that’s been working since 2014 to transition their Victorian town to 100% renewable energy. With their second community battery about to come online, they reflect on why batteries are not the best starting point for many communities, why deep local knowledge, strong partnerships, and early wins with simpler projects are essential before installing a community battery. We hear why the future of community batteries lies not just in technology, but in trust, collaboration, and a clear understanding of what each community is trying to achieve.

So you want to install a community battery? Try something simpler first

Data centre expert Andrew Walton explains what data centres need, where they might be built, and what will power them. Plus: ESOO, and Checkers the Sheltie.

Data centres and the grid

Dr Saul Griffith joins SwitchedOn Australia live on the Gold Coast to talk about his new book Plug In! and why households are central to driving Australia’s clean energy transition. He explains how electrification can cut emissions fast, save money, and reshape the way we use energy at home and in our communities. Saul shares insights from his career advising governments, including his role in shaping the US Inflation Reduction Act, and his work with Rewiring America and Rewiring Australia. He speaks candidly about consumer power, culture wars, and the politics of accelerating change. And he makes the case for an ‘army of consumers’ to demand a better deal from Australia’s energy system.

Plug in and fight back - Saul Griffith wants a consumer army to fight for energy justice

AGL boss Damien Nicks discusses how the country's biggest coal generator is managing the transition to renewables, storage and electric homes. Plus: When will another wind farm get finance?

AGL's struggle with coal

What happens when an entire community decides to ditch gas and go electric? That’s the challenge behind Electrify 2515, Australia’s most ambitious community electrification pilot. Backed by Rewiring Australia, Brighte, Endeavour Energy, and ARENA, the project is helping 500 households in postcode 2515 swap in heat pumps, induction cooktops, and solar quickly, and at scale. 60 homes have already taken the leap, and the early lessons reveal a lot about costs, supply chains, and how people are actually living with smart energy tech. John Buchelin from Rewiring Australia, and the pilot’s operations manager outlines what’s working, what’s not, and why this bold experiment matters for households, tradies, and the future of the grid.

Electrify 2515’s early wins road testing Australia’s electric future

Plico Energy CTO George Martin says business is booming under the new home battery rebates, but the name of the VPP game remains the same. Plus news of the week.

What consumers really want from virtual power plants

SAPN boss Andrew Bills on the challenges of managing the local network in the world's most advanced renewable grid, and where half of all homes have rooftop solar.

"We had to innovate to survive"

A new tool to help Australia build renewables in the right places will launch this November. Called AVISTEP, it uses millions of bird sightings, decades of research and expert modelling to map where wind, solar and transmission projects are likely to have low, medium or high impacts on biodiversity. The aim is to get renewables built — but built in the right places – and avoid conflicts like the Robbins Island wind farm in Tasmania, recently approved despite sitting in a critical bird migration corridor. Already available overseas, AVISTEP works on a simple traffic-light system — green for go, red for no, amber for “find somewhere better.” BirdLife Australia’s Dr. Golo Maurer explains how the tool works and why it could be a game-changer for the renewable rollout.

The game changing tool to protect birds in Australia’s renewable rollout

CSIRO Chief Research Scientist Pep Canadell on why Australia and the world need to aim high, not low, on its 2035 climate targets. Plus: It's getting weird in Queensland.

Time to go "full sail" on decarbonisation

Earlier this month, two competing visions for the future of farming emerged on opposite sides of the country. At Gina Rinehart’s Bush Summit in Broome, renewables were cast as a threat to rural communities, while in Canberra, the inaugural Farming Forever Summit highlighted how clean energy is sustaining farm livelihoods. Fourth-generation farmer Charlie Prell knows the difference firsthand. After years of drought and falling commodity prices pushed his Crookwell property to the edge, wind turbines helped secure his farm’s future and supported his retirement. Charlie shares his story of resilience and why he sees renewables as part of farming’s survival, not its downfall. But he’s blunt about some of the renewable industry’s missteps and how rushed contracts and divisive tactics by some developers left scars that still fuel distrust and give ammunition to anti-renewables campaigns. The challenge now is to rebuild trust, ensure farmers have genuine agency, and prove that clean energy can strengthen rural communities rather than undermine them.

The renewables lifeline for farmers

CCA’s Matt Kean on why target had to be lowered. Plus: Offshore wind pioneer Andy Evans on Victoria’s delayed auction, and a very big battery tender.

Is Australia’s emissions target good enough?

Join Anne Delaney as she tracks the electrification of everything with people at the forefront of the electrification transition.

So you want to install a community battery? Try something simpler first

SwitchedOn Australia

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