Battery storage key to renewables transition: 100th household system installed


Released 25/07/2017

Over 100 local homes and businesses have installed discounted battery storage systems to help reduce their energy bills and stress on our electricity grid, Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability Shane Rattenbury announced today.

“The ACT Government is providing $25 million through our Next Generation Renewables Energy Storage Grants program to subsidise battery storage in over 5000 homes and businesses by 2020. This is one of the biggest rollouts of battery storage in the world,” Mr Rattenbury said.

“It’s fantastic to see that over 100 households and businesses have opted to embrace battery storage since the program commenced last year.

“The program is seeing upfront discounts of around $2900 for an average household system. The funding comes directly from the ACT’s large-scale renewable energy projects, highlighting the importance of combining renewable energy generation with storage technology.

“Battery storage is the next big thing in renewable energy. It allows people to store energy captured from rooftop solar systems and then use this energy when it’s most cost effective, such as when cooking dinner and heating the house during peak times in the evenings. Storage will allow us to transition to much higher levels of renewable energy penetration in the grid and meet our target of 100% renewable electricity by 2020.

Mr Rattenbury said another benefit of the battery rollout is that it can reduce peak demand on the ACT’s energy supply.

“The ongoing impacts of climate change mean that our electricity network is going to be put under the sort of pressure experienced during the recent heatwave more often.

“By subsidising the rollout of these storage systems, we are helping to reduce peak demand on the network and  preventing the need for additional network upgrades which come at a cost to the consumer. It’s estimated the ACT could save over $60 million in network costs through this rollout.”

Eight companies are currently participating in the program. These are ActewAGL Retail, Energy Matters, EPC Solar, Evergen, IT Power Renewables, Origin Energy, Power Saving Centre, and SolarHub.

For more information on these installers visit www.environment.act.gov.au.

- Statement ends -

Shane Rattenbury, MLA | Media Releases

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