A recent national survey has indicated the vast majority of Australians believe the Federal Government should help make installing household battery storage more affordable.
The promise of cheap, good quality home battery storage is yet to be realised. When the Tesla Powerwall 2 was launched nearly 6 years ago, it cost under $10,000 installed. But the price of Powerwall is in ludicrous mode these days; costing around $19,000 including installation.
There are a bunch of Powerwall alternatives available and Australians are somewhat spoiled for choice in home batteries generally these days. But the cost of home energy storage remains out of reach of many households – even with some states and territories offering subsidies.
Solar households have helped bring down wholesale electricity prices during the day through their exports to the grid, for which they generally receive a feed-in tariff payment. But feed-in tariffs aren’t as generous as they once were. Self-consumption of solar energy is now the name of the game and hence increasing interest in solar batteries.
A marked shift in mains grid electricity consumption patterns in Australia and the ongoing pursuit of slashing power-related emissions has also created challenges that home batteries can help address.
To boost solar battery uptake, a recent report from the Smart Energy Council recommended tweaking Australia’s Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES) to include home batteries. The SRES is the mechanism that provides Australia’s “solar rebate“.
But would Australians get behind this? At this stage it appears so.
Solar Citizens Poll Results
Results of a poll of more than 2,000 Australians conducted by uComms for Solar Citizens just last week revealed:
- 41% had solar.
- 73% of were concerned or very concerned about affording their next electricity bill.
- 48% would consider installing household solar or battery storage with access to a government-provided no-interest loan.
- 31% would consider replacing gas appliances with electric if they could access a government-provided no-interest loan.
- 78% agree the federal government should expand the national rooftop solar subsidy to make it more affordable for Australians to also install household battery storage.
Solar Battery Benefits
“Incentivising more battery storage is a win-win that will help bring down electricity costs for all consumers by supplying cheap solar energy to the grid at night and reducing the need for expensive grid upgrades,” said Solar Citizens Deputy Director Stephanie Gray.
Some solar batteries can be coordinated to supply the grid with energy when its needed most through participation in Virtual Power Plant (VPP) programs. Depending on the program, the owner may receive additional financial benefit through supplying this high-value electricity.
Some batteries can also be configured or “told” to store electricity from the grid when its plentiful and at its cheapest, either via VPP participation or at the direction of the owner. This slurps up surplus solar energy goodness in the grid, which in parts of some electricity networks is proving to be a challenge to manage.
A household with a solar battery also decreases demand on the grid during peak periods through self-consumption of stored energy; particularly in the late afternoons and evenings.
Figuring Out A Battery Subsidy Not Straightforward
While interest-free loans could be a goer – assuming they are really zero-interest and not just shifting the cost of finance into the price of a battery – potentially extending the SRES to include batteries using the model proposed by the Smart Energy Council1 will cause some spirited debate.
The cost of the SRES to all electricity consumers has been targeted time and again over the years2. But these arguments have generally ignored the value of the SRES, such as pushing down wholesale electricity prices during the day. Still, it has been a thorny issue before and would be again with batteries thrown in. Numbers would need to be well and truly crunched to pass the pub test once those opposed get cranky and cranking.
That aside, subsidies for batteries could also push up hardware and installation prices as players seek to cash in. And given results of performance and reliability testing of solar batteries to date, the powers-that-be would want to think long and hard about a subsidy’s value – particularly given many subsidised systems could potentially be hammered through VPP participation.
On a related note, Federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen is to provide some detail today on a proposed capacity investment mechanism that should contain some interesting stuff around energy storage. Minister Bowen is big on batteries; but primarily bigger batteries rather than those associated with home energy storage.
Footnotes
- or Member for Indi Dr. Helen Haines’ lapsed Cheaper Home Batteries Bill 2022. ↩
- Even by the ACCC in the past. ↩
About Michael Bloch
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Per the 2021 census data 70% of private dwellings are separate houses but only 31% outright own their home – a further 35% have a mortgage. That 41% with solar figure could thus rise perhaps 50%, but not much more. Of greater importance, and not apparently asked, was whether households with solar have systems sized to their usage needs e.g. those primarily consuming power near dawn and dusk need huge systems because there is little generation during those hours. Or they could rely on batteries and use solar to recharge whilst away from home.
The no-interest loan is really a no go given there is a negative return on investment i.e. you’ll need to replace it before getting your money back via battery consumption rather than grid.
As for folk considering the switch from gas to electric – and fair disclaimer I don’t use gas but plenty of neighbours do, Switzerland is mulling over a ban on EVs. With power bills being such a concern, and possible electricity shortages in the future, might non-electric options be the way to go? It’s similar to how electric only homeowners are wise to have solid fuel or gas stove options as an emergency backup for storms.
Just to clarify, Switzerland is NOT planning to ban EVs. What the Swiss ARE mulling over is how to prepare for anticipated energy shortages this winter due to restricted supply from nuclear plants in France and Germany, as those countries try to conserve power for their own use due to restricted gas supplies from Russia. The Swiss are considering a range of measures, one of which is limiting EVs to essential journeys only, such as work trips and shopping. If implemented, it would be a temporary measure only, whilst the present limitation on gas supplies remains.
It would be bad policy.
It’s just more welfare for the wealthy and ends up increasing prices. Have a look at the ACT Govt battery incentive. All the companies operating under the scheme charge a lot more for a battery.
It would be the most inefficient use of resources devoted to energy storage which should be instead be deployed for grid scale storage which is where it will have the most benefit for everyone.
Federal Labor’s pre-election policy was not to subsidise individual home batteries. They did have a ($300M) policy to fund community batteries (which is its own can of worms).
If we must have subsidies for home storage, then it should be to install them in public housing and directed at low income households and the disadvantaged.
Yeah battery is the answer IF cheap enough. I am interested to learn more about bromine batteries as they are cheap and don’t over heat. Too big for cars but ideal for home and work
It seems mor efficient and also faster to use community-level battery storage that people can use to backup their surplus to.
PSSST, LG Chem and warranty/replacement delays !!!
First the reliability factor has to be better than at present.
Next, the price per MW/h over the battery lifetime has to be better than renewable alternatives.
We, (two oldies) with approx. 5 KW of solar have just received our most recent bill of $142.47 for 91 days so why bother with anything extra?
(Playing devil’s advocate in order to improve the pitch.)
How much work has been done on the medium to long term maintenance needs and costs of domestic batteries, and the risks if this is neglected or beyond the menas of householders?
Thats the key question for me. We can’t decentralize the grid too much, because then you have a lot of the national capacity in the hands of private individuals, who may or may not maintain it, and also shouldn’t have to be paying for it. I’m having a battery installed this week, because i think the next 5-10 years could be a bit of a chaotic time for our grid, so it’s security for me. But then I’m also an engineer and like maintaining things. Mot people just want plug and play, and fair enough too.
Hopefully they do subsidise home batteries, AND back-date to July 1 (as we had a 15kWh Huawie Luna 2000 installed a month ago 🙂 ).