Australia’s household battery boom continues

Figures from solar and storage market analyst SunWiz indicate 423 MWh of battery energy storage capacity was registered through Australia’s Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme in August: more than half the 852 MWh installed throughout last year.

SunWiz Managing Director Warwick Johnston said the impact of the federal subsidy scheme that offers a discount of about 30% on the upfront cost of installing small-scale battery systems, is made apparent by the steep increase in the average size of batteries purchased by homeowners and businesses.

Since the cheaper home batteries initiative kicked in, on July 1, the average size of household batteries registered under the scheme has jumped to 21 kWh.

“People are installing batteries that are now twice as large as the 10 kWh to 12 kWh size they were for most of the first half of this decade,” Johnston said. “That average size of 21 kWh was an increase from … 19 kWh in July.”

The SunWiz analysis shows the 30 kWh to 50 kWh market grew the greatest amount last month, while there was a marked increase in the 20 kWh to 30 kWh bracket.

However, 12 kWh to 14 kWh batteries were one of the few segments to contract. The 18 kWh to 20 kWh segment rose to become the most popular sub-20 kWh option.

SunWiz said the strong growth in the battery market sparked a decline in the share of solar-only projects, with PV and battery energy storage now the most common way of installing rooftop solar.

Nationally, there were 114 batteries registered for every 100 solar systems.

From pv magazine Australia.