Labor’s proposal to subsidise solar battery storage has been met with derision by the Minister for Bringing Down Energy Prices, Angus Taylor, who was quick to deliver his zinger – “Labor has gone from pink batts to pink batteries.”
Good one Angus. Except he probably should have checked Liberal Party press releases which show that the SA government has already introduced a similar scheme.
SATURDAY 08 SEPTEMBER 2018
The Marshall Government has today revealed the details of its Home Battery Scheme, delivering on its commitment to provide more affordable, reliable, secure energy for all South Australians.
From October this year, 40,000 South Australian households will have access to $100 million in State Government subsidies to pay for the installation of home battery systems.
In addition, the Minister for Energy and Mining Dan van Holst Pellekaan this week signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Commonwealth Government’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) to deliver a $100m CEFC funding package to support the Scheme.
“In working with the CEFC we expect to be able to further assist households overcome the upfront financial barriers to accessing storage technology by offering households competitive, flexible loans where needed, in addition to the subsidies,” said Minister van Holst Pellekaan.
CEFC CEO Ian Learmonth said: “The CEFC has supported investment in home and commercial solar PV and battery storage systems as a way to reduce energy-related emissions. We are pleased that this new arrangement with the SA Government, once finalised, will allow South Australians to access tailored finance for their home energy storage systems.”
While the subsidy will be applied to the battery component only, households will be able to apply for finance to assist with the purchase new or additional solar panels as well as the battery system.
The subsidy will be available to all South Australian households and scaled in line with the size of the home battery system being installed.
Furthermore, South Australian Energy Concession Holders will be able to access a higher subsidy, ensuring households on low-incomes are supported to access the technology.
While the subsidy will vary depending on the size of the battery purchased, it will be capped at a maximum of $6000.
The Scheme will directly reduce electricity costs for the 40,000 households that purchase a subsidised household energy storage system. In addition, the installation of these systems will reduce demand on the network (especially at peak periods) and in turn lower prices for all South Australians.
It will be very interesting to see how the Coalition argue against a policy that passed their own party room, the NEG, and a policy that the Liberal SA government has introduced themselves, battery subsidies.
Their continual assurance that we will meet a target of 26-28% emissions reduction “in a canter” with no policy also tends to indicate that with a proactive policy, Labor’s ambition of 45% reduction of emissions by 2030 should be achievable.
The AEMO’s Integrated System Plan said that the lowest cost replacement for retiring coal plants will be solar (28GW), wind (10.5GW) and storage (17GW and 90GWh). Just 500MW of flexible gas plant will be needed, and no new coal. It says this portfolio in total can produce 90TWh (net) of energy per annum, more than offsetting the energy lost from retiring coal fired generation.
Labor has also promised to invest in improved transmission which will improve reliability according to the AEMO who said that new transmission infrastructure is urgently needed to reinforce existing links between states and create new ones – such as between South Australia and NSW.
Let’s hope the Greens don’t, once again, sabotage the good in search of the perfect.
Let the battle of the models begin.
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