How Misinformation Killed a Town's Battery Project

A small Australian town was weeks away from getting a community battery that would store solar energy and cut electricity costs. Then someone showed a YouTube video of an exploding e-scooter at a council meeting.

The Narrabri Shire Council meeting in March 2025 should have been routine. Instead, a fire official compared the town's planned community battery to drill batteries and e-scooters, warning residents about thermal runaway and explosions.

Sally Hunter had spent five years making the battery happen. Her nonprofit Geni Energy secured $500,000 in federal funding and council approval to install a 500kWh battery in a parking lot. The plan included solar canopies and electric vehicle chargers to create a renewable energy hub for the coal country town.

But the presentation changed everything. Local emergency officials submitted a letter raising concerns about lithium-ion battery fires, citing media stories about e-scooter explosions. They recommended relocating the project based on safety risks.

The comparison was misleading. Fire safety engineer Ian Moore explains that community batteries use different technology than e-scooters. The batteries are tested to international standards and include smoke detectors, gas sensors, liquid cooling systems, and fire suppression aerosols.

"The batteries in e-scooters and e-bikes you see in the media are not very well controlled," Moore says. Community battery systems have significantly lower risks than other fire hazards towns face every day.

A freedom of information request later found no record of the safety document officials cited. All of the council's own reports had deemed the project low risk and called the emergency committee's submission "unsolicited."

The Ripple Effect

The Narrabri battery was one of 400 community batteries the federal government is funding across Australia. These batteries solve a critical problem: they store excess solar power during the day and release it at night when families need electricity most.

The projects help stabilize the grid as more renewable energy comes online. They also lower power bills for residents and reduce strain on the electrical system during peak hours.

When communities can separate fact from fear, everyone benefits from cleaner, cheaper, and more reliable energy.