The stopper on the uptake of battery storage has just been removed in a ground-breaking announcement from the Victorian Government. From 18 November, households in all Victorian postcodes can apply for the battery rebate – worth up to $4,174 – via the government’s Solar Homes program. This means that people living in areas like Newstead, Sutton Grange and Macedon, which were previously ineligible for the battery rebate, can now apply.
In addition, the supply of battery rebates has been massively increased with the announcement that 5,000 battery rebates will be available this financial year (up from around 1,000), and a further 12,500 battery rebates in the following two years.
“This is fantastic news for homeowners looking to invest in grid-connect home battery storage” said Jo Kaptein, organiser of local not-for-profit solar bulk-buy MASH. “Demand for the Tesla Powerwall 2 – the battery storage system available through the MASH community solar bulk-buy – has been incredibly high but it has been stymied by the limited supply of rebates. Prior to the government announcement, only 40 battery rebates were being released every two weeks and these were snapped up in minutes. Rather than disappointing MASH participants, we eased off promoting home battery storage as the rebate problems were causing people so much angst and frustration.”
“Now, within 24 hours of this exciting government announcement, we’ve had over 35 quote requests from households keen to purchase a Powerwall battery with the rebate” said Jo.
“There’s no doubt that battery storage is the way of the future. It provides households with greater energy independence, protection from power outages and lower bills. It also boosts the resilience of the electricity grid. This is becoming increasingly important as we are seeing an increase in the number of new solar applications to the network distributor Powercor being restricted in terms of the amount of solar that they can export to the grid. With more batteries in place, there will be less stress on the grid. There’s also the potential for home batteries to play a role in supporting the grid at times of peak demand – and households being rewarded for this financially.”
Exciting times indeed for renewable energy.
The MASH community solar bulk-buy is holding an online battery info meeting via Zoom on Monday 7 December from 5pm-6pm. To register, click here. To request a quote for the Tesla Powerwall 2 battery through MASH call 1300 466 274 or visit mash.org.au