Council facilities · Battery storage
Council battery storage for waste facilities, treatment plants, pools and depots
Smaller peaks, more of your own solar, and a study your procurement team can use.
Council sites pay for their peaks. A few high-demand intervals from a leachate plant, a recycling line or a pool plant room can set the network demand charge for the whole month. A battery sized to your load profile shaves those peaks, stores midday solar for the evening, and gives your net zero plan a measured result.
- Go/no-go in 5 business days
- Fixed-fee study you own
- Training included
Where a battery earns its keep
Waste and resource recovery
Recycling lines, leachate treatment, composting fans, weighbridges
Water and sewage treatment
Pumps, aeration blowers
Aquatic and leisure centres
Heating, filtration, lighting
Depots and fleets
Electric vehicle and truck charging
Community batteries
Shared storage for local rooftop solar
Your options compared
Doing nothing, solar only, a battery you own, and a battery as a service, side by side.
| Option | Do nothing | Solar only | Battery you own (with Edisonic) | Battery as a service |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | None | Solar capital | Battery capital, less any incentive the site qualifies for | None or low |
| Equipment owner | No new equipment | Council | Council | The provider |
| Battery risk | No battery | No battery | Council, backed by the manufacturer warranty, with Edisonic managing claims locally | The provider |
| Peaks after sunset | Unchanged | Unchanged | Shaved | Shaved, or priced into the plan |
| Savings | None | Daytime energy, kept by council | Kept by council | Shared with the provider |
| Contract | None | None | None after handover; monitoring and O&M by choice | Usually a multi-year term |
Service plans vary by provider, site size and network area. The feasibility study models the owned option for your site.
The NSW business battery incentive (BESS5)
Since September 2026, the NSW Peak Demand Reduction Scheme has included business batteries (activity BESS5). The NSW Government says the discounts cut the upfront cost of batteries by around 20 to 40 per cent. Details: NSW Government
We check site and product eligibility in the feasibility study, and we'll tell you early if the incentive doesn't apply. Details: NSW Climate and Energy Action.
| Rule | Detail |
|---|---|
| Where | Behind the meter at a business site. Residential buildings and data centres are excluded |
| Size | Usable capacity above 200 kWh and up to 30 MWh; incentives apply up to 10 MWh |
| How often | Once per site |
| How it's paid | Certificates, created through an accredited certificate provider |
| Product rules | The battery must meet safety testing and warranty requirements |
Built for council procurement
- The go/no-go costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
- The feasibility study is a fixed fee, so it goes through your normal quotation process.
- In NSW, contracts under $250,000 including GST are exempt from the Local Government Act tendering requirements and follow your council's own procurement policy (OLG guidelines). For larger projects, we respond to your tender.
- The study gives your approval process what it needs: a business case with modelled payback, incentive eligibility, fire safety and siting considerations, the network connection pathway and a procurement-ready specification.
Waste facilities: start with your own load
If a contractor runs the landfill gas engines on your site, the gas side is theirs. The weighbridge, leachate plant, recovery sheds and any recycling or composting plant are yours, and so is the demand charge they set. That's the load we look at first.
Community batteries
The federal Community Batteries for Household Solar program ($200 million for around 400 batteries) has funded councils and networks to install shared batteries (DCCEEW). If your council is weighing a community battery, we can size it and build the technical case for a funding application.
What to send us
- 12 months of interval data for the site's meter (NMI). Your retailer or network can export it as a CSV.
- Your last two electricity bills.
- Any solar on site: size and age.
- Planned changes: expansions, new equipment, fleet charging.
Site savings estimator
Want a rough number first? The site savings estimator has presets for councils, mine sites and remote communities.
Council FAQs
Can a NSW council buy a battery without going to tender?
Contracts under $250,000 including GST are exempt from the tendering requirements in section 55 of the Local Government Act and follow your council's procurement policy. Contracts at or above that value go to tender unless another exemption applies, such as buying from a Local Government Procurement contract.
Does the BESS5 incentive apply to council sites?
It applies to behind-the-meter batteries at business sites and excludes residential buildings and data centres. Operational sites such as depots, treatment plants and waste facilities may qualify. Eligibility depends on the site and the product, and we confirm both in the study.
What data do you need?
Twelve months of interval data for the site's meter, your last two bills, and details of any solar. Your retailer or network can export the interval data as a CSV.
How long does the go/no-go take?
Five business days from when we receive your data.
Are batteries safe at waste facilities?
Our systems use LFP cells with liquid cooling and built-in fire suppression. Siting and separation from stockpiles are designed with your fire engineer and your consent conditions.
Can a battery keep critical loads running in an outage?
Where the site design allows, selected critical loads can be backed up. We confirm what's possible for your site in the study.
Should a council own its battery or buy it as a service?
Owning keeps the savings, and any incentive benefit, with council. A service plan avoids the upfront cost, shares the savings with the provider and usually runs for several years. The comparison table above sets out the trade-offs, and the study models the owned option for your site.
Find out if a battery stacks up at your site. One page, five business days, no cost.