Page 1273 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 11 April 2018
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Focusing on energy storage for homes and businesses as opposed to large grid-scale batteries provides a number of advantages. It allows the ACT to maximise the comparative advantage it has in the development of small-scale renewable energy technology and it supports the progressive ACT community that is willing to support the installation of battery technology. That is a really important part of this story. These programs are not only driving innovation; they are leveraging significant private investment into this space. That is something that amplifies the work that the government is already doing and also enables members of our community who are very passionate to be early adopters to get involved, put some of their own money into the programs, and help further build the industry here in the ACT.
The Evoenergy-Reposit virtual power plant trial offers financial incentives to participating households, but there are a number of actions the government can take to ensure that far greater benefits are realised for the wider ACT community, including households unable to afford the up-front cost of an energy storage system. By offering schemes such as solar for low income households, where eligible participants are able to access a subsidy of up to 60 per cent of the total cost of a solar system along with a three-year interest-free loan to pay off the difference, and by continuing to actively support cost-effective measures, including through energy efficiency and productivity measures, we can create a fairer and more equitable model that delivers affordable and cleaner energy to all.
Importantly, we must also continue to work alongside industry to increase the use of smart devices and smart grid related activities, including more virtual power plants or bigger virtual power plants. These can be used to manage peak demand on the electricity network, and result in clear benefits to the whole community, not just households with batteries or those participating in a virtual power plant. These benefits, which play out for everybody in this city, include a delayed, deferred or reduced requirement for network upgrades, a potential reduction in the required size of new network infrastructure, and an improvement in the resilience and/or reliability of the electricity network. These are things that benefit everyone in this city.
These things may in turn lead to reduced consumer costs for electricity. Once fully realised, it is anticipated that the approximately 36 megawatts of demand reduction resulting from the next gen storage grant programs could provide in the order of $60 million to $220 million in total savings to territory electricity consumers. This will flow through to reduced energy costs for each and every household in this city.
By providing bold leadership and policy certainty on climate change, Canberra has emerged as an internationally recognised centre for renewable energy innovation and investment. We know that industry and governments do not have all the answers. There will be smarter products, services and policies that will help us manage our grid that we have not yet imagined. That is why the ACT government is partnering with the ANU on the new $8 million grid integration and energy storage research program, which will bring together research on power system engineering, energy controls, energy economics and policy right down to fundamental battery materials chemistry.
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