YES Group wins $7.4M grant to roll out 14 community batteries in Australia
What's the deal? South Australian renewable energy company YES GroupDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has secured a A$10.29 million (roughly $7.4 million) grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA)Dealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → to deploy 14 community batteries across regional South Australia and New South Wales.
Why now? The grant is part of ARENA's second round of community battery funding, which allocated a further $23.2 million this week for new energy storage systems. The announcement coincides with ARENA marking its 100th community battery installation, commemorated earlier this month in Esperance, Western Australia.
By the numbers: YES Group's grant sits in the 92nd percentile of all-time grant rounds for Australian energy companies, based on a sample of 810 deals. It is the largest of three awards in the latest tranche: AusgridDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → received $8 million for 21 batteries across NSW, and the City of NewcastleDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → got $5 million for 12 solar-integrated batteries.
What's the endgame? Community batteries store excess rooftop solar during the day and release it when demand peaks. ARENA says the assets help households cut costs, lift renewable uptake, and improve grid efficiency.
The bigger picture: ARENA's rollout has accelerated sharply. The agency counted just 22 installed batteries at the end of last year and 23 by March, but says its funding has now supported 113. Funding Round 1, launched in April 2023, started with $120 million; Round 2 was announced early last year with $46.3 million.
What they're saying: "Reaching 100 community batteries demonstrates growing confidence in the role these assets can play in Australia's energy transition," said Chris Faris, ARENA's acting chief executive officer.
The signal: The program is generating real-world data on battery performance, costs, and grid impacts — insights ARENA says will "accelerate the commercial deployment of community batteries across Australia." As federal backing deepens, distributed storage is moving from pilot to mainstream infrastructure.
