Solar homes and businesses in Queensland are being encouraged to add battery storage to their PV systems, with the launch of a state government grant and loan scheme on Monday.
Queensland energy minister Anthony Lynham said the scheme would offer 1500 Queensland households and small businesses interest-free loans and grants of $3000 to purchase batteries or combined solar-battery systems.
The interest-free loans on offer included up to $10,000 for as many as 1000 combined solar and battery systems, and up to $6,000 for 500 battery-only systems.
Households that invested between $2000-$3000 of their own capital towards the cost of a solar and storage system could expect to save up to $400 a year, Lynham said – even with the interest-free loan repayments.
The battery subsidy, which opened to applications on Monday morning, hopes to see more of the state’s solar homes and businesses to store and use more of their solar power.
It follows the launch of similar loan and subsidy schemes in South Australia, the ACT, Victoria, and most recently New South Wales, as governments look to help boost the uptake of battery battery storage in the wake of the ongoing rooftop solar boom.
Currently, Queensland has around 2500 battery storage systems installed behind the meter, compared to around half a million rooftop solar systems.
The Labor Palaszczuk government has set a target of 1 million solar rooftops, or 3,000MW (3GW) of installed capacity, by 2020. The 2GW-mark was passed in March this year.
To help meet its target, the government in June began offering interest-free loans of up to $4500 for solar systems, on top of its October 2017 loan program targeting low-income and rental households.
“Just as we have one of the highest penetrations of rooftop solar in the world, we are aspiring to be a world leader in battery storage,” Dr Lynham said.
Queensland Labor energy policies had already generated around $2 billion worth of private investment in solar from households and small business, the minister said.
Lynham also stressed that the roll out of the solar and battery packages were backed by a strong safety focus, with applicants required to select from a panel of approved suppliers, held to stringent safety standards.
Interested households and businesses can find a list of eligible suppliers and batteries online at www.qld.gov.au/batteryloans.
Sophie is editor of One Step Off The Grid and deputy editor of its sister site, Renew Economy. Sophie has been writing about clean energy for more than a decade.
