Amid predictions of a pandemic recession, household battery systems in Australia brave all odds as they rose 20% in 2020.
In a recent article by SMH, the proliferation of household battery systems is a positive indication that consumers are turning away from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
Across the country, installers have reported 31,000 new batteries, bringing the total number of small batteries in the country storing electricity from solar panels and “large” utility-scale batteries to 110,000.
The market analysis was provided by Warwick Johnston from the consultancy SunWiz. He said, "It's been a surprisingly good year for battery systems in Australia."
"Home battery systems are particularly popular in South Australia, where homeowner demand is so high that the state government has had to cut subsidies to avoid overheating the market."
The 2020 battery boom saw my South Australians hit 26 percent, followed by Victorians at 25 percent and New South Wales at 24.7 percent.
"In Victoria, the popularity of household solar batteries was so high that government subsidy allocations were exhausted within minutes of each release – a situation that was only resolved when the government put COVID stimulus funding into the sector," exclaimed Johnston out.
SunWiz has forecast an additional 33,000 home battery systems and an increase in grid-scale battery storage in 2021.
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Australia has one of the highest solar radiation rates on the roof in the world. Based on statistica.com's 2018 solar PV penetration by country, Australia ranked fourth. Italy ranked first, according to the data, with 9.2 percent of final electricity consumption being met by PV power. Germany followed with a penetration rate of 8.4 percent.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/945565/solar-pv-penetration-by-selected-country/
This statistic shows the extent of the worldwide penetration of electricity consumption with photovoltaic energy from 2018 according to selected countries.
National solar energy domestically increased by 30 percent last year and improved by 3.5 gigawatts. The total number of solar panels on the roof now exceeded 2.5 million.
Initially, sales of COVID-19 solar panels and batteries declined, but the country's leading electric utilities and installers were no doubt convinced that the decline would be temporary as customers spent more and more time at home looking for ways to by doing so, be one step ahead of rising energy costs for private households.
John Grimes, chief executive of the Clean Energy Council, which represents 1,000 renewable energy and battery companies, said, “It makes perfect sense. People work from home, so they are very aware of their electricity bills, but they also have more time to actually research the technology. "
Grime added that the rooftop solar energy and battery storage gave consumers a “sense of control” when the pandemic caused an unprecedented disruption to everyday life in Australia. "That also plays a role in these numbers."
More and more households around the world are turning away from harmful fossil fuels. Battery technology is emerging as a major player in promoting renewable energy, not to mention eliminating the problem of disconnection when it's not sunny or windy, or when the weather is just as favorable. Batteries simply store excess electricity that is generated at a specific point in time to use when it is needed most.
AGL, a leading Australian electricity company, believed batteries would play a vital role in easing pressure on the grid as renewables continue to expand.
Travis Hughes AGL's director of distributed energy resources announced that its virtual power plant, which combines hundreds or thousands of homes with solar and batteries to manage demand and energy flow, has been expanded to NSW, Queensland and Victoria.
He said, "We believe that virtual power plant technology will be an important part of the energy system for the next decade, along with grid-scale batteries that will provide the solidifying capacity Australia needs to transition to a cleaner energy future."