Dwelling Batteries = Power Independence Day

August 23, 2025

8

Help CleanTechnica’s work by a Substack subscription or on Stripe.

Final Up to date on: twenty third August 2025, 01:20 am

Australia leads the world in family rooftop photo voltaic installations. Over 4 million households have photo voltaic panels. Within the final 20 years, installations have turn into greater and cheaper. My photo voltaic array was just one.9 kWh and value about AU$6000. For a lot much less, now you can get an array 3 occasions the scale. Nevertheless, concurrently arrays have gotten greater and cheaper, the feed-in tariff (FIT) for solar energy has turn into miniscule. Whereas twenty years in the past the FIT was round 50¢ a kWh, now you’re fortunate to get 8¢.

What to do with all that energy in the course of the day? The reply is a house battery. Costs on these have fallen, and there was an rising variety of photo voltaic panels + batteries put in — however not practically as quick as essential to create excessive demand.

The Australian federal authorities affords its Cheaper Dwelling Batteries subsidy. 30% off — what a discount! AU$2.3 billion is on provide to subsidize the set up of small-scale battery techniques (5 kWh–100 kWh) for households, companies, and group organisations. Come and get it!

Tesla Powerwall 3, picture courtesy of Tesla.

And have they ever. There have been 11,500 purposes for the scheme in its first 3 weeks of operation. No surprise Tesla is sending me an e-mail each second day promoting the Powerwall. Sadly, I purchased a house battery a number of years in the past and paid twice the value for out-of-date tech. The subsidy will likely be reviewed no less than yearly and “will step by step lower till 2030, in keeping with lowering battery costs.” Because it ought to.

Many households with an present photo voltaic array are placing in batteries. In accordance with the Melbourne Age, small-scale battery techniques equal to South Australia’s Tesla Massive Battery are being added to the grid each 8.7 days. The scheme has been in operation for about 2 months now, with Australians putting in 15 MWh price of batteries a day. A thousand batteries a day! That is 5 occasions the common in 2024. The Australian Power Market Operator (AEMO) had predicted that this is able to not have been achieved even by 2035. As soon as once more, the market is exhibiting up skilled crystal ball gazers. Is that this a second revolution in dwelling electrical energy?

The federal government expects that taking part households, companies, and group organisations will be capable to “cut back electrical energy payments by taking advantage of low cost and clear solar energy by storing it for when it’s wanted.” Not solely will Australians be capable to use photo voltaic to energy their properties throughout peak hours, they might even have some extra to promote again onto the grid when the costs are excessive. Some are predicting a return on funding in about 4 years. Does this imply the tip of the photo voltaic duck, or no less than discount of the photo voltaic duck? It ought to imply that there will likely be a lot much less want for costly fuel (methane) generators within the night peak.

Tristan Edis, director of Inexperienced Power Markets, makes this salient level: “You don’t want swarms of attorneys, service provider bankers, accountants, environmental planning, individuals, group session, all of the issues that go into constructing large-scale renewables. You don’t want any approvals. You don’t want any engineers; you simply want your native sparky.” On the present price of set up, inside 5 years, Tristan hypotheses’ that there can be 10,000MW of battery capability put in.

“That’s an enormous deal whenever you suppose we’ve got 20,000MW of coal capability [in Australia],” he provides. “[D]emand for batteries has gone nuts.”

The Australian authorities is reviewing its emission discount targets out to 2035. The large uptake of dwelling batteries and the implications it has for the grid imply that these targets could possibly be extra “formidable.”

“With present state and territory motion anticipated to ship emissions cuts of between 66 per cent and 71 per cent by 2035, these findings present the Albanese authorities needs to be striving for a science-aligned goal of 80 per cent [reductions] by 2035,” Australian Conservation Basis CEO Kelly O’Shanassy stated.

The managing director of photo voltaic consultancy SunWiz, Warwick Johnston, stated that previous to the Cheaper Dwelling Batteries scheme, 4 rooftop photo voltaic arrays have been being put in for every battery. Now it’s one for one. The Clear Power Regulator information present that almost all of installations (40%) are in New South Wales. Queensland has 20%, South Australia 17%, and Victoria 12%. Owners in NSW can even declare an additional subsidy in the event that they connect with a digital energy plant (VPP). What about encouraging all candidates for the subsidy to be a part of a VPP? That will make sense. Seems to be prefer it’s lined….

“To qualify for the battery rebate, an on-grid battery system — together with its inverter — will need to have the technical functionality to take part in a VPP, giving the buyer the choice to affix a VPP both at set up or sooner or later … customers who select to take part will want an ongoing web connection. Relying on the inverter mannequin and web site situations, further {hardware} or software program and permissions for web site controllers to entry a number of battery techniques could also be required, and battery retailers should inform customers about any such necessities.”

The Hon Matt Kean, Chair of the Local weather Change Committee (left), Chris Williams CEO & Founder Pure Photo voltaic (proper) in entrance of the southern hemisphere’s first Tesla Powerwall 3 set up. Credit score: Chris Pavlich Images.

A lot of my Fb mates are putting in the utmost numbers of Powerwalls allowable. I hope to carry you their tales in future articles. Like many others, they’re hungry for options to excessive vitality prices, and perhaps they’ll make a bit hay whereas the solar shines. And also you by no means know when the subsequent flood will come and wash away the ability traces, or the subsequent fireplace will burn the ability poles down, or the subsequent cyclone will blow down the high-tension towers. That is Australia, and we’re in the course of the local weather disaster. It by no means hurts to have a battery backup.

Now, hopefully the subsequent penny will drop. If my dwelling battery saves me cash (and doesn’t burst into flames), then it’s simply doable that an electrical automotive will save me extra money and also will not be flammable. In spite of everything, it’s typically the identical chemistry. I hope that this surge in dwelling battery installations will cut back the FUD round electrical autos and produce a few surge within the numbers of EVs on the highway. Watching this huge uptake, I’m questioning if it’s only the value level that issues? For a lot of Australians, the long run is now extra reasonably priced and extra electrical.

Join CleanTechnica’s Weekly Substack for Zach and Scott’s in-depth analyses and excessive stage summaries, join our each day e-newsletter, and observe us on Google Information!