Australia's Clean Energy Finance Corporation has committed $100 million to help smaller renewable-energy projects reach construction. The new Distribution Connected Accelerator Program was announced on August 3 in partnership with Infradebt.
The program can finance up to 16 hybrid solar, battery, and battery-retrofit projects, mainly those up to 5 megawatts. The projects are expected to be ready to start construction in 2027.
Smaller projects can struggle to secure financing even when they are ready to connect to the electricity network. The program will use concessional senior debt to help them move from planning toward operation.
Because these projects connect through local distribution networks, they can make use of existing poles and wires instead of waiting for larger transmission projects. That gives communities and businesses another route to add renewable power and storage.
