President’s Report Apr 2026

Graeme Martin

It’s the beginning of the end, and the beginning of the start. What does that mean?

Village Power’s $750,000 funding from the Victorian Government for ‘Putting the community into Alphington’s community battery’ project is due to finish in June. After two and a half years, and many ups and downs, we are getting ready to complete the project. Most importantly we are preparing to land a 500kWh community-scale battery at the entrance to the Alphington Farmers’ Market. The battery, actually three batteries and a control panel, will be installed in early June after a concrete foundation is laid.

We have just selected an artist to beautifully render the battery and control panel when they arrive on site in June. Many thanks to Village Power team members and community representatives involved in the selection process, and the shortlisted artists for their creative works. The selected artist and their work will be revealed in due course.

Hopefully you will have seen flyers and members of the Village Power team around the neighbourhood as we ran a campaign to recruit people to join our Community Energy Program.

We are very excited to welcome 48 participants into the first round of the program. The first workshop of this group will be held on Wednesday 29th April. Please RSVP your attendance via your email invitation.

The Community Energy Program marks the beginning of the energy transformation that we aim to demonstrate with the battery and people power.

To celebrate the end and the start of our new journey, we are planning to hold a launch on Saturday 20th June so please mark that morning on your calendar.

Graeme Martin,
President, Village Power