More than 5,000 homes and businesses in the Australian Capital Territory will get discounted battery storage under the ACT’s latest round of capacity auctions for large-scale renewables.
Around $25 million will be raised from the auctions for the specific purpose of subsidising battery storage installations in the national capital, amounting to the largest subsidised roll-out of battery storage outside of Germany.
“Solar PV-battery storage will revolutionise the renewable energy sector by storing renewable energy so it is on demand exactly when we need it, reducing the need for network investment,” ACT energy and climate minister Simon Corbell said.
“It means households can capture the maximum value of the energy they are producing and I am excited that the ACT is once again at the forefront of investment and innovation in this sector.”
The new auction will seek up to 109MW of capacity, likely from wind and solar farms. But each bidder will be required to allocate around $250,000 per MW of capacity to the battery storage support scheme.
The ACT will then hold separate auctions, seeking bids from battery storage developers who will seek a portion of the funds to roll out battery storage installations in the ACT.
A pilot auction in the ACT has already been held, but the results will not be released for another few weeks. A total of 12 parties bid into the auction, a mix of battery storage developers and wholesalers and others.
The $25 million being set aside by the ACT for battery storage support compares to the $300,000 put forward by the Adelaide Council and the South Australia government in the next biggest support scheme in Australia.
The latest auction of large-scale renewable energy will also take the ACT to its target of 90 per cent renewable energy by 2020. It has already conducted auctions for 50MW of solar capacity, and two auctions of 200MW of wind capacity. It plans to meet the equivalent of 100 per cent of its electricity demand from renewable energy by 2025.
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