AUSTRALIA'S BATTERY BOOM is gaining traction, with South Australia ranking first in the country for its sweeping achievements in grid-scale and household battery storage, according to the Climate Council's latest report: "Battery Boom: Supercharging Australia's Renewable Rollout".
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South Australia is home to the world's first big battery, the Hornsdale Power Reserve, which charged up in 2017. It has since brought on another five big batteries with several more expected to connect to the grid very soon. Its South Australia Virtual Power Plant and emPowering SA programs are also charging up social housing, private homes, and entire communities.
While the state falls just behind the Northern Territory for the highest proportion of rooftop solar systems with a battery, it presents an opportunity to take energy savings to the next level. The top-three suburbs where this will make the biggest impact are:
Salisbury (8,400 rooftop solar systems)
Morphett Vale (8,200 rooftop solar systems)
Smithfield (8,100 rooftop solar systems)
Climate Councillor and energy expert, Greg Bourne, said: "Around 40 percent of our main energy grid is powered by sun and wind. Batteries are our bridge to a 21st century energy grid; keeping the lights on in our homes, schools, and workplaces as our ageing coal fleet eventually retires by 2040.
"We already generate an excess of clean, reliable, renewable energy from Australia's abundant sun and wind. Rather than simply letting it go to waste and missing out on the savings, batteries will help soak it all up and put it to good use during periods of high demand.
"As our transport fleet progressively electrifies, those batteries can also help our grid and provide extra resilience to the system overall."
Climate Council Fellow and energy expert, Andrew Stock, said: "Household, community, and grid-scale battery storage plays a vital role in Australia's renewable energy transition. States are already making headway in these areas, but we must go further and faster to ensure more Australians can reap the benefits.
"Installing more batteries means more gigawatts of renewable energy we can store. The return on investment for communities: lower bills, less climate pollution from polluting coal and gas, and a more resilient grid."
