Via the ABC: The next big shift in the Australian energy industry may well begin under everyone’s roof.
A million people are expected to connect batteries to their home solar power units in the next few years, creating a whole new source of base load power for the network. Also, according to bloom field’s energy expert peter Littlewood, Australia is ideally placed when it comes to renewable resources.
The issue is that renewables do not perform well around the clock or in extreme weather conditions which can leave the network short on baseload power. This issue can be resolved by the rise of solar battery home units.
Homeowners and solar power system users with excess power stored in batteries are now able to sell power back to the grid when it needs it most, generating income for themselves and providing backup power to the network when renewable sources are failing.
If that supply is big enough according to some could have made a big difference in the storms in South Australia, where consumers with batteries would also have been able to ride through the blackouts unscathed.
Luke Osbourne of Repositpower installs battery units and the systems needed to feed excess power back into the grid when the financial return is greatest. Repositpower has installed 300 around Australia, including Canberra, Port Macquarie in NSW, Adelaide and Newcastle. Osbourne is expecting the numbers to go up as prices of solar batteries goes down.
Osbourne said that the consumers will be a big force in the energy market because in a future where the country is looking for something to complement wind farms and solar farms which varies up and down, the country needs something to keep the system balanced.
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Featured Image Credit: ABC.net.au