Homeowner saves $1,800 as new energy rebate comes into effect: 'Waiting for years'
The NSW government is now making it easier for residents to buy solar batteries to store their energy for use at night.
Thousands of homeowners could soon go off the energy grid as the country's biggest state incentivises the purchase of solar batteries, slashing the price with a new rebate scheme.
From November 1, the NSW government will subsidise the upfront cost of solar batteries in a bid to drive uptake and help homeowners become more self-sufficient with their energy supply. One solar retailer told Yahoo News the new incentive will save the average homeowner "roughly $800 to $2,200" with each purchase, with the maximum saving being a total of $2,400.
Sydney resident Steve Fitts (not pictured) is set to get his solar battery installed next week and is delighted the rebate has not only saved him $1,800 — it's also made it possible for him to get a bigger battery.
"It would have been fine with the previous battery size that I was going for, but just having a bigger one made sense to me with the rebate," he told Yahoo News. The battery would have previously cost him $11,000 but the government incentive has now shaved off more than 10 per cent of the cost.
Although Fitts sometimes works from home, the majority of the energy generated by his panels goes largely unused. This means by the time his wife and son get home in the evening, the family need to tap into the energy grid. With the new battery, the family will be far less reliant on energy "generated by fossil fuels", and save money in the process.
"I can now store my energy... and it's better for the planet," he told Yahoo.
Battery uptake 'relatively low' during solar installations
According to the Clean Energy Regulator there are around 890,000 homes in NSW with solar but the number of those with batteries is "relatively low", solar retailer Jonathan Green told Yahoo News.
"It's very common for people not to get batteries because of the cost," the Director of Green.com.au explained. "But then solar power is being wasted when they [homeowners] could be putting in a battery and saving an enormous amount of money at night.
"The rebate is a way to incentivise homeowners to go out, get themselves a battery [and] take some demand off the grid," he said.
NSW rebate has been a long time coming, solar retailer said
Green explained the solar industry in NSW has been "waiting for years" for the state government to offer an incentive while other Aussie states have been offering solutions to the high, often prohibitive, upfront costs of batteries.
"South Australia, many years ago, had a battery rebate... it was absolutely fantastic. It solved a lot of the grid issues in the state," he said. "Victoria did one, they launched a rebate, which is now an interest-free loan that people can get access to, and Queensland did the same."
"We've been waiting years for an incentive in New South Wales and it's finally here."
Push for Australia's first net-zero suburb
The federal government has announced it will inject $5.4 million into its Electrify 2515 pilot project which aims to create the country's first net-zero suburb.
Residents in the northern suburbs of the NSW Illawarra region will be eligible for grants to buy solar batteries and also be able to substitute any gas appliances they have for electric ones, the ABC reported.
An objective of the project is to prove the energy grid can cope with most households going electric and the switch is actually an economic one long-term.
"When you buy solar it is like buying 20 years of really, really cheap electricity up front and using that to power your appliances will save money," said Dr Saul Griffith, a renewable electricity advocate who helped design the project.
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