– Dr. Tom Dixon, Queensland Community Engagement Manager, RE-Alliance.

Queensland’s energy system is changing fast, and large-scale batteries are becoming increasingly crucial. With more than 30% (and climbing) of Queensland’s energy now coming from renewables, coal-fired power stations becoming increasingly unreliable, and battery prices plunging, 2026 will see more batteries installed than ever.

For many households, batteries are already familiar — paired with rooftop solar to store energy and cut bills. But battery energy storage systems (BESS) are now also firmly established as essential grid infrastructure. They help stabilise the power system, reduce overall costs, and allow higher levels of renewable energy to be utilised as coal-fired power stations retire. 

Put simply: batteries are essential for a successful grid. And as with all critical energy infrastructure, community confidence and local benefit are essential for batteries to be accepted and to succeed.

Powerlink recently carried out an analysis of battery potential, showing that batteries are increasingly relied on to provide system strength, manage congestion, improve reliability and defer expensive transmission upgrades. 

The Queensland Government has also recently moved to bring large standalone batteries into social licence planning requirements as it did for other renewables infrastructure last year  — including social impact assessments and community benefit agreements. This is a huge change, and we’re working with councils and State Government to understand how this is working in practice, and what is needed to ensure the process doesn’t unduly delay projects.

Both these pieces of work indicate that batteries are becoming part of the backbone of Queensland’s energy system — and that has implications for how they are planned, approved and hosted.

Batteries are more than energy stores

The value of batteries now goes well beyond storing electricity and trading in the market. Well-located batteries can:

• Reduce our energy bills
• support grid stability as coal exits (and backup when coal fails)
• relieve pressure on constrained parts of the grid
• help ease the need for power to be moved around the network, and take pressure off transmission infrastructure, and
• help restart parts of the network after major outages.

In practice, batteries are increasingly performing roles traditionally delivered by large, centralised coal-fired power generators — but they’re doing it faster, cleaner and more flexibly.

Many of the largest proposed batteries are in regional and rural Queensland, close to transmission lines across Central Queensland, the Darling Downs, North Queensland corridors, and throughout South East Queensland.

Regional communities are hosting assets that are critical not just locally, but to the entire state, so community confidence is increasingly critical, and the opportunities are increasing.

Community confidence 

Battery projects can deliver real benefits to regional communities: construction and operational jobs, local investment, improved grid reliability, and new long-term opportunities linked to clean energy and electrification.

At the same time, like any major infrastructure, they raise questions locally — about land use, safety, amenity, cumulative development and how change is managed.

For communities, the issue is whether the impacts of projects are understood and addressed, and whether the benefits are tangible, lasting and aligned with local priorities.

Across regional Australia, building local trust and confidence is  one of the most important pillars of building renewables right. Batteries are no exception, and their growing importance to the grid means we must put the work in to engage local leaders and communities early and often, reflect local priorities in project design, and ensure the community shares in the benefits of the project.

Community benefit and local trust

Community benefits are widely recognised as an important part of  building local trust. Our regions want long-term participation in local opportunities — whether through ongoing community funds, co-investment, skills and training, resilience measures, or other legacy value. 

For batteries, trust must be earnt by building respectful local relationships and being transparent, not through transactional compensation.

Communities and councils have a clear role, and this means there is a need for consistency, clarity and shared expectations about what genuine community benefit looks like on the ground.

From projects to regional energy systems

At RE-Alliance, we have long argued that renewable energy infrastructure should not be treated as a series of isolated projects.

Regions experiencing rapid development need place-based approaches that recognise cumulative impacts and shared opportunities. Thinking at a regional scale allows benefits to be coordinated, rather than negotiated project by project — reducing fatigue and building trust.

What this means for councils

For councils, batteries are becoming a key planning consideration.

In practice, councils are the frontline interface for community questions and concerns, and due to recent updates to planning laws made last year, they are also responsible for ensuring community benefit agreements are negotiated in good faith, and managing cumulative impacts across multiple energy projects. 

The new framework gives councils greater leverage, but also greater responsibility, and we must ensure that councils are resourced appropriately to do this work and receive fair compensation.

Key implications include an expectation that Councils provide clear explanations of community benefits, early community consultation, consistency across regions, and ensure legacy benefits that continue to benefit the regions for many years. 

If done well, councils can help ensure battery projects strengthen both the grid and regional communities.

Queensland’s energy transition must succeed on two levels at once — technically, by keeping the system reliable and affordable, and socially, by ensuring communities are confident in how change is managed and how benefits are shared.

As batteries become part of the backbone of the grid, regional Queenslanders shouldn’t just host them — they should help shape the system and share in its benefits.