The number of discounted energy storage systems installed under federal Labor’s Cheaper Home Batteries program has sailed past 40,000, in just eight working weeks since the rebate was launched.
“As of this morning 40,000 Australian households have installed a cheaper home battery – 40,004 to be precise,” said federal energy minister Chris Bowen, announcing the milestone on Wednesday from PV and battery retailer Solar Hub in Canberra.
“That’s 714 megawatt-hours (MWh) worth of capacity,” Bowen added in a separate interview on Wednesday with Smart Energy Council CEO John Grimes. “Remarkable rollout, all done smoothly.”
Bowen says battery rebate buy-in has mostly been “an outer suburban and regional story,” so far, where households and businesses are acting to cut their electricity bills “at a very significant rate.”
“Some of these Australians didn’t have solar panels before and have put on solar panels and a battery at the same time; some … had solar panels but not a battery; others had a small battery but have now upgraded to a bigger battery to cater for their needs. That’s all good… and it all helps the grid,” Bowen says.
“This is a success story of Australian households but not just Australian households, small businesses and community groups as well.
“I’ve visited small businesses that have put in batteries over the last eight weeks. I’ve visited community groups, surf life saving clubs that have put in batteries over the last eight weeks as well as, of course, many thousands of homes.”
Grimes – who with his team at the SEC put in a great deal of work to help ensure the long-awaited rebate would be fit for purpose and would not negatively affect the industry – said Cheaper Home Batteries had been “a textbook” in how public policy should be done.
“I’m particularly pleased that the government’s engaged with industry, taken feedback and tweaked to actually get the best outcome for householders,” Grimes said on Wednesday.
“We’re also seeing a transformation of industry as industry scales up, employs and expands.
“That’s a good news story for the tens of thousands of small businesses right across the country that are powering this transformation,” he said.
“And we did some modelling we released last week with the Australian Conservation Foundation showing that this program is really making meaningful differences and impacts when it comes to addressing climate change.
“Our research shows that this single policy will add a further 10 per cent emission reduction in the electricity sector alone by 2035. Good for bills, good for jobs, and good for the environment.”
Sophie is editor of One Step Off The Grid and editor of its sister site, Renew Economy. Sophie has been writing about clean energy for more than a decade.
