Energy Storage as a Service (ESaaS)

North Epping community battery decorated with indigenous artwork.
North Epping community battery decorated with indigenous artwork.

Energy storage as a Service (ESaaS) allows multiple customers to benefit from a community battery. Community batteries store extra solar energy when the sun is shining and feed that energy back to customers when they need it – often after the sun has gone down. 

Let’s understand how ESaaS works, who benefits, and why community batteries are helping to build a smarter, more affordable energy system for everyone.

How does ESaaS work?

  • Ausgrid is working with energy retailers to offer ESaaS. You can sign up through a participating energy retailer
  • There is no fee to sign up and benefits can be provided in the form of a bill rebate or discounted pricing plan. This will vary between each retailer
  • Customers on ESaaS pay less because the energy they use from the battery doesn’t need to travel as far as energy that comes from large generators like coal or solar farms, reducing reliance on the transmission network and large scale centralised generators.
  • ESaaS allows local customers to make the most of local solar, and solar is one of the cheapest forms of electricity currently available. 

What are the benefits of ESaaS?

More savings

Customers benefit from energy bill discounts or rebates.

More efficient

Reduces reliance on traditional poles and wires investment and defers expensive network upgrades.

More accessible

Non-solar and solar households, renters, and apartment residents gain access to clean, local, and renewable energy.

More renewables

Facilitates the adoption of more renewables by firming the supply of variable renewable generation.

More electrification

Strengthens the grid and enables more rooftop solar and devices such as electric vehicle chargers to be connected.

ESaaS in action

Everyone uses energy differently, but most of us hit peak demand around the same time: in the evening, when the sun is down, which puts added pressure on the grid.

ESaaS uses stored solar from your community battery can be used to support local homes during peak times, even if you don’t have panels or a battery. This means:

  • Solar-only homes don’t lose their excess generation to the wider grid — it can be stored and shared locally. 
  • Homes with no solar can benefit from clean energy stored during the day.
  • The whole neighbourhood can enjoy more stable prices and a cleaner grid.

One way ESaaS can help with excess solar

On sunny days, rooftop panels across a neighbourhood can generate more electricity than homes are using. That extra energy gets sent back to the grid – often at a time when electricity demand is low. The grid struggles to absorb all the extra solar energy. This can lead to clean energy going to waste, voltage problems and limits on how much solar power people can export (curtailment).

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What is solar curtailment?

Solar curtailment refers to the reduction or limitation of electricity generation from a solar system. It avoids overloading the system and helps maintain grid stability.

During the midday spike, instead of flooding all that extra solar out to the grid, a community battery stores it locally. In the evening, when there is peak demand and solar generation has dropped off, the stored energy is released back to the community. This helps reduce peak demand, decreases reliance on fossil fuels, and supports more solar in the system.

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Check if you are in an eligible catchment area.

ESaaS is offered by energy retailers to eligible customers living near a community battery.

ESaaS Factsheet

A printable overview of Energy Storage as a Service.

Customer eligibility for trial

  • Catchment area: Be located inside an eligible battery catchment area near a community battery (follow above link).
  • ESaaS energy retail offer: Find and accept an eligible offer from participating retailers.
  • Most customers qualify: Have solar or not, rent or own, live in a house or apartment
  • Meter: Have a smart meter (type 4) installed, or if no smart meter is installed yet, contact your retailer to have one installed.

Small businesses are now also eligible.

Ausgrid Community Batteries

A community battery is a shared solution for a local neighbourhood that allows both that neighbourhood and the wider community to access the multiple benefits batteries can provide.

Community Battery FAQs

Visit Ausgrid’s FAQ page to learn more about community batteries.

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