Australia has now installed more than 500,000 batteries under the federal government’s Cheaper Home Batteries Program.
It’s an impressive number for a scheme that’s a little over a year old, and one Energy Minister Chris Bowen was understandably keen to celebrate.
“Every battery installed means another household getting more value from their rooftop solar, and another job for the local installers and small businesses delivering this rollout across the country,” Bowen said.
But half a million batteries later, it’s worth looking beyond the milestone. The program hasn’t just put a lot of batteries on walls. It has changed Australia’s home energy market remarkably quickly.
I’m a man with a mission. And that mission is to decide what size battery my sister should get, while taking into account that she’ll be topping it up with free daytime electricity. If I give her a bad answer, I will still be a man — but it may become much more difficult for me to immediately prove it.
The good news is, my sister is getting a battery. The bad news is, she says I have to decide how large it should be, and god knows what she’ll do to me if I get it wrong. To find out how I decided what battery capacity to recommend, while taking into account her average electricity consumption, modest 6.6kW solar system, and the fact she’ll be topping up her battery with free daytime electricity — read on. But if you only want to know how I rate my chances of getting out of this unharmed, then also read on.
The minimum level of charge a battery will keep up its sleeve can be customised to best suit your priorities – whether it’s maximising energy trading profits, blackout protection or reducing degradation. You can even tweak it temporarily in response to unusual conditions – as I found during a power price surge earlier this week.
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