From July 1, 2019, the Greens will introduce a $2.2 billion battery storage fund providing household battery storage incentives of up to $7000 per battery (tapering down annually to July 1, 2023). Each quarter, $137.5 million will be made available for use from the fund.
\nBattery storage in Australia is taking off, with household battery storage uptake tripling in 2017 and expected to reach 33,000 in 2018. However, the Greens recognise the industry is still developing and this boost will improve access for households and help manufacturers reduce costs and increase production.
\nAs the landscape and economics of battery storage are changing rapidly, the size of the grant will taper down annually and a review will be conducted halfway through the scheme to assess the size of the grant, taking into account battery prices in each state of the scheme, the resulting payback periods and the performance of the scheme. If any changes to the size of the grant in years 3 and 4 are required, 3 months advance notice will be provided.
\nThe opportunities presented by the huge growth in distributed energy storage will be missed if the \u2018behind the meter\u2019 technology is unable to coordinate. The aggregation of home battery systems provides the opportunity to save consumers money while adding additional flexibility and security to the grid when required. To be eligible for the scheme, households will need to use qualified system providers installing battery systems that meet a set of minimum technical requirements, so batteries are safe and capable of (where technology permits) participating in a sophisticated distributed energy arrangement, such as a virtual power plant.
\nThe goal of the scheme is to reduce the consumer\u2019s effective payback period of batteries to as close to 3 years as possible, close to the best payback period for average solar PV systems in some parts of Australia. Guidelines will be developed to determine the precise level of subsidy provided to achieve this goal, having regard to:<\/p>\n
10% of the funding cap each quarter will be set aside for low income households, who will be eligible to receive double the allocated grant in that year.
\nThe scheme will work in harmony with state-based schemes by \u2018topping up\u2019 state based grants. For example, if a household receives the Victorian Labor subsidy of $4838 in 2019, they will still be eligible to receive up to $2162 from the Federal Government grant.
\nThis policy will be fully costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office.
\nQuotes attributable to Adam Bandt MP, Greens climate change and energy spokesperson:<\/strong>
\n\u201cWe want to supercharge demand for batteries in households and businesses,\u201d said Mr Bandt.
\n\u201cInstead of a one-way street, our energy system needs to transform into a distributed, coordinated smart grid with battery storage at the heart of that transformation.
\n\u201cTwo million Australians have already embraced solar. The next step is battery storage.
\n\u201c70% of home owners with rooftop solar want batteries, but research indicates a lack of government incentives have inhibited the uptake of batteries. Instead of encouraging the uptake of batteries, the government is just spruiking coal.
\n\u201cOur $2.2 billion plan will help households and businesses embrace and enjoy the benefits of battery storage and extra support will be given to low-income households to ensure they don\u2019t miss out.
\n\u201cBattery storage will help people reduce their energy bills while reducing demand on the network during peak times.
\n\u201cNot only can distributed battery storage technology create virtual power plants, but they can almost double a household\u2019s self-consumption from their solar panels.
\n\u201cMore battery storage will help Australia reach 100% renewables as soon as possible by keeping pollution and power prices down.\u201d
\nScheme design:<\/strong><\/p>\n