Greens leader Richard Di Natale chose to go off-grid 10 years ago, largely because of the huge costs of connecting his then weekender and now family home to the grid. He says it's a great feeling to be able to convert the sun into useable energy.
Battery/Storage
It’s satisfying to turn on a light or power tool and know the energy was generated only a few metres away.
Energy Made Clean wins tender for 1.1MWh battery system for ground-breaking large-scale community energy storage trial in Western Australia.
Tesla announcement has already forced battery storage pricing in Australia to come down by one third, with further rapid falls to follow.
91-year-old medical entrepreneur installs largest solar and battery storage array for an off-grid home. Hawaii and Australia seen as biggest off-grid markets.
Australia has all the ingredients to be world’s leading market on battery storage: Lots of solar, high prices, and a consumer base that is cost conscious and distrustful of incumbents. Add in a flash consumer product, and it has all the elements of an iPhone style revolution.
AGL sees no mass market for battery storage before 2020, and is not sure Tesla product is suitable for Australia. It concedes it is behind in rooftop solar, but argues this is just one of basket of new technologies that will change consumer energy use. And it doesn't fear for its coal assets.
Panasonic to roll out battery storage for solar in Australia
Tesla's lithium-ion technology isn’t the only battery on offer. Here's a quick survey of current battery technologies, and some that are in development.
Tell ‘em they’re dreaming! That’s what Darryl from the film The Castle would say when knocking back a "great deal". But what would he make of the new battery storage offerings?
How quickly will households adopt battery storage, and will they be able to use Tesla to get off the grid?
Morgan Stanley says battery storage market could be worth $24bn, with half of all homes interested. It says Tesla Powerwall will deliver paybacks of 6 years or less in some states, and that is bad news for major utilities, whose earnings will be impacted.
Australian battery technology developer Redflow says it has made the first Australian sale of its commercial large scale energy storage system, albeit to its own company director Simon Hackett, the tech guru who will install it in a renovated office complex in Adelaide as part of longer term plans to take the office off-grid. Redflow […]
Everyone, it seems, agrees that battery storage is the next big thing to affect global energy markets. What is not agreed upon is the timing. Some think this may happen in a few years, others in a decade or more. Some think it is happening now. The big question for many is how quickly battery […]
Development groups Lend Lease and LandCorp are to pioneer a major community-level battery storage pilot that could change the way that residential communities source energy, including not being connected to the grid. The pilot project at Alkimos Beach, a sustainable community develop in the northern suburbs of Perth, will include 1.1MWh of lithium ion battery […]
In the wake of Tropical Cyclones Olwyn and Pam – the devastating 250km/h winds of the latter resulting in Vanuatu’s ‘worst natural disaster in living memory’ – we are reminded of how vulnerable centralised electricity grids are to increasingly intense extreme weather events. In Australia, the category three Cyclone Olwyn tore through the WA towns […]