I knew this policy was going to be popular as soon as I heard it. Australia already has a love affair with home solar (40% of all households have home solar), I could see so many of those same households looking for an opportunity to improve their systems.
It is gratifying to learn it is having the success it deserves.
21
ol-gormsby5 days ago
+3
There's been subsidies for renewable energy for decades, it's just become very popular recently and dare I say it: a vote w*****.
I got subsidies for off-grid upgrades in 1996, 2000 and 2009. And just recently in the current program (which has run out early of allocated funding, it's been so popular).
3
Thommohawk1175 days ago
+3
I would say that subsides for solar systems have always been popular, hence the success of this program, and the success of previous subsides that you mentioned. Whether or not it's a vote w***** on its own I couldn't say for sure.
3
EinSV5 days ago
+12
“The unexpected boom in home batteries and the equally surprising surge in rooftop solar installations means that Australia’s target of 82 per cent renewables by 2030 – long dismissed as a lost cause by some – is now very much within reach.
That, at least, is the view of the Clean Energy Regulator executive general manager Carl Binning, who says that the massive investment by households in rooftop PV and batteries reduces the burden on large scale wind and solar to deliver on the 2030 target.
Some analysts have said that the renewables target is well out of reach because of the delay in grid scale renewables, particularly wind energy.
The most pessimistic put the likely renewable share by 2030 at less than 60 per cent, although federal energy minister Chris Bowen has always insisted that the target is still doable, although hard.
Binning, however, says the surge in rooftop installs and home batteries, boosted by the federal rebate, has stunned everyone, including the industry itself, and offered a new avenue to that 82 per cent target.
The Australian Energy Market Operator’s Integrated System Plan assumes another 28 gigawatts of large scale renewables is needed to meet the federal target, a little under 10 GW of additional rooftop solar, and about 5 gigawatt hours (GWh) of home storage.
Billing says home battery storage is already at 11 GWh, and heading for 40 GWh, eight times the ISP assumptions. And the record 441 megawatts (MW) of rooftop solar added in the month of April points to an annual run rate of around 4 GW. Even if it were 3 GW, that still would beat the ISP assumptions.
‘If we take stock of this, we can start to see the finish line, and a couple of ways to get there. That is super exciting,’Binning told the Smart Energy 2026 conference on Thursday….”
12
cipheron5 days ago
+11
On Media Watch (Australia, ABC channel, similar to BBC) recently, they covered Channel 7's reporting on the "dark side of renewables".
From 3 minutes in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He1aPKzWUPY&t=187
The gist is that the Channel 7 reporter is targeting the current Labor federal government, and highlights a Tesla-built battery in South Australia, claiming "almost all" big storage batteries contain blood cobalt from Congo (DRC). So this is, according to the report, the dark side of the Albanese government's renewables policy.
However Media Watch looked into it, the only grid-scale storage batteries in Australia with cobalt in them are almost a decade old (built before ~2018, including the Tesla one), and the industry phased out the use of cobalt for grid-scale storage even before the Albanese government was elected.
Cobalt is still in products such as household appliances, mobile phones and laptops, however the reporter doesn't target those. Those make money for the advertisers so they would be off limits for an investigative report by channel 7.
11
MiserableTennis65465 days ago
+7
Trump and Iran making the world greener, season 1, episode 70.
7
Thommohawk1175 days ago
+18
Respectfully, these policies have nothing to do with Iran or Trump and have been in place for close to a year.
They were brought in by the Australian Labor Party in June/July of last year after retaining government. Because they believed they were the best ways to increase adoption.
While Trump played some role in the election, ultimately I, and most Australians, do not believe he was the main motivating factor in our choice of Labor over the conservative Liberal-National coalition. Rather it was Labor's policies (including the battery scheme) combined with an extremely embarrassing lack of campaigning by the coalition who were assuming an easy victory that decided the election.
18
MiserableTennis65465 days ago
+8
"Binning said that the CER had received more than 70,000 home battery applications in the month of April, and more than 20,000 in the last week."
I'm not saying they had anything to do with the policy. But it certainly seems to have become a lot more popular because of the energy crisis the war has caused.
8
AspectVegetable76745 days ago
+5
I’d be willing to bet a U.S. dollar that the commenter you responded to was unaware this story was about Australia.
5
Boatster_McBoat5 days ago
+1
LNP offered nuclear in 20 years. Australians went: yeah nah
1
cecilrt5 days ago
+1
unexpected... the massive d*******/rebate on big batteries had people scrambling... its been way too successful
1
OscarF2P3 days ago
+2
If we got rid of the tariffs we could have this in the USA too.
2
____DEADPOOL_______4 days ago
I got myself one of these. USD $4000 for a 42kw Fox ESS system that I coupled to my existing solar. Couldn't believe how c**** it was. I think the government put in USD $10,000.
13 Comments