MORE DETAILS: The $1M project to keep power prices down

A NORTHERN Rivers company has been given the green light to fund a community battery the size of a shipping container.

SOLAR SAVINGS: Enova Community Energy has secured funding for its first grid-scale community battery as part of a multimillion-dollar collaboration.

A NORTHERN Rivers energy enterprise has secured nearly $1 million in shared funding to help keep prices down with a new storage battery the size of a shipping container.

Enova Community Energy chief executive officer Felicity Stening confirmed they had secured funding for its first grid-scale community battery as part of a multimillion-dollar collaboration.

"It's really important we keep prices a low as possible and pass savings onto customers,

this is core to our vision," she said.

"Enova is partnering Enosi Australia and University of Newcastle and have been granted $998,000 worth of funding from the NSW Government's Regional Community Energy Fund for a Shared Community Battery project.

"This project will enable Enova to commission and install a 2MWh battery and implement peer-to-peer trading provided by partner Enosi of the stored energy across 500 Enova customers, and aims to reduce electricity bills for Enova customers."

Ms Stening said although the battery will be located at Kurri Kurri near Newcastle, the project will benefit all of Enova's 9000 plus customers across NSW.

She said they will invite 500 people to participate in this project, while they trial peer-to-peer trading, with a mix of current and new customers and hope to have the project operation mid 2021.

Ms Stening said 60 per cent of Enova's customers have solar panels and around 50 per cent of the energy the company sells is generated by their customers.

"For our customers it will ultimately mean more value from their rooftop solar investment," she said.

Ms Stening said these customers can be even more active in reducing environmental impact by maximising the utilisation of energy generated by a renewable source.

"They'll be supporting community by sharing energy within the community, in particular, with those who do not have solar," she said.

"As a social enterprise Enova invests half its profits in community projects through our non-profit arm."

NSW Minister for Energy and Environment Matt Kean said the Shared Community Battery Project would help regional communities take control of their energy bills and benefit from the economic opportunities presented by changes in the energy system.