President’s Report July 2026

Happiness and relief were my overriding feelings on Saturday 27th June, when we launched the Alphington Community Battery and the Community Energy Program. It was a joyous occasion shared by over 150 people. So many people said that there was a really friendly buzz in the air. However, there were many lines of actions that all needed to intersect to make it possible. After months of planning it all came down to the final few days. The three batteries and control panel were craned into position on the Wednesday and the artwork vinyl wrap was applied on the Thursday and Friday. The Community Energy booklet, event signage, seating all came together in the final days too. Phew.

A special thank you to Robin Gale-Baker for taking on the Event Manager role that coordinated the many volunteers, stall holders and detailed logistics. Many thanks to the volunteers too.

There are many people and organisations that have played crucial roles in helping us get to this stage. I named and thanked many in my speech that you can find here.

For a fuller description of the launch, you can read Ana’s summary.

You can imagine that the launch has occupied a lot of time over the past month but it is not all that we have been doing. The VP hive of activity also included preparing the first Community Energy Reporting App, that we call Cera, to be delivered to the first cohort of CE Program participants. We have also selected the second cohort of CE Program participants and are arranging the first workshop to meet them. Ana has written a summary of this cohort.

The launch of the battery is a fantastic milestone for Village Power. It marks the end of the first stage to deliver shared energy storage. We now begin to utilise the battery and CE Program to make an impact on the use of local renewable energy, the next stage of our journey. We need more people to help us. If you would like to get more involved and can make time to volunteer with us, please have a look at these roles.