Energy storage as a Service (ESaaS) allows multiple customers to share energy 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 shared storage is helping to build a smarter, more affordable energy system for everyone.
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).
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.
Reality: Not at all. You still choose when and how you use electricity—nothing changes about your appliances, your solar system, or your habits. ESaaS works quietly in the background, storing excess solar energy and releasing it when the grid needs support. It simply adds cleaner, locally stored power into the mix during peak times, helping to stabilise prices and reduce emissions.
Not everyone can install solar or afford a battery, but that doesn’t mean they can’t access the benefits of clean, affordable energy. Here's how ESaaS compares to other renewable energy options:
| Solar Only | Home Battery | ESaaS through a Community Battery | |
| Upfront cost | Varies $4,500–$13,000 | Varies $6,000–$11,000 | None to you |
| Backup protection | None | Yes, depending on system | Can’t draw from the battery during an outage |
| Ownership | Household owns it | Household owns it | Owned by network provider |
| Maintenance | Homeowner maintains it | Homeowner maintains it | Maintained by Ausgrid |
| Best for... | Homeowners after daytime savings | Solar owners looking to store solar energy to use later | Anyone (accessible for those with solar or no solar, homeowners and renters) |
| Impact on grid | Moderate, can add pressure to the grid if solar is not being used | Strong, lowers household load by maximising household generated energy | Very strong, stabilises the grid, helps regulate voltage on the network |
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:
