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.
ESaaS is offered by energy retailers to eligible customers living near a community battery.
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.
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:
Ausgrid is actively installing more community batteries over 2025/2026. Please check your eligibility again if you currently fall outside the catchment areas.
Compare offers and start saving today by visiting participating energy retailers EnergyAustralia and Origin Energy.
