Virtual Power Plant

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen) (14:52): My question is to the Minister for Energy and Mining. Can the minister update the house on how the innovative South Australian virtual power plant is delivering cheaper energy bills for South Australian Housing Trust residents?

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart—Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:52): I thank the member for Heysen for that question—and, yes, I can. It's a real pleasure to do that. As members would know, storage is a key component of our energy solution to make electricity more affordable, more reliable and cleaner for all South Australians.

We have our Grid Scale Storage Fund, we have our Home Battery Scheme, and I am pleased to share with the house that over 12½ thousand people have signed up for the Home Battery Scheme—a tremendous achievement. Those 12½ thousand homes will all receive significant benefits, and by doing so they will also provide benefits to all other electricity consumers.

With regard to the innovative virtual power plant to which the member refers, that is going very well also. Phases 1 and 2 have been completed; 1,100 Housing Trust homes now have solar and batteries installed. They are achieving incredibly well for those people. In addition to those 1,100 homes there are another 250 homes which do not have the equipment but which are participating in the virtual power plant scheme and they also receive a reduced electricity bill.

From 1 July this year the VPP households—the ones that have the equipment and, importantly, the ones that don't but are still in the scheme—will pay a retail residential electricity price 22 per cent below the default market offer for South Australia. That is significant. It is about $105 per year in savings, and that is on top of the savings last year and on top of the savings the year before. Electricity prices in South Australia are coming down for many, many reasons.

We work very collaboratively with industry to make these things happen. We are thrilled to be providing Housing SA tenants directly cheaper electricity through these schemes. The VPP was actually one of the very first to join with the Australian Energy Market Operator to provide frequency control and other ancillary services to the market.

The VPP has actually proven itself with regard to the quality of the grid: a cost avoidance from shocks coming from outside South Australia that would otherwise have negatively impacted South Australia with regard to the supply of electricity. The VPP was absolutely critical in partnership with AEMO to make sure that those shocks were absolutely minimised, so an enormous and important cost saving for all South Australians.

I am also really pleased to say that while the South Australian VPP—partnering, importantly, I should say, with Tesla—is going very well, we now have six virtual power plants operating in South Australia and it has led to an enormous range of opportunities. The other virtual power plants are with AGL, Simply Energy, Stoddart, ShineHub and Sonnen. This work is going incredibly well.

At the last election, the previous government started the virtual power plant. I give credit to them for getting that going, and we also developed our Home Battery Scheme from opposition. Most people thought that whoever won government would keep their scheme and scrap the other. So, while their scheme was on rocky ground, what we decided to do was do both. It was going to be in the best interests of all South Australians for us to introduce the Home Battery Scheme and also to help recover the virtual power plant, which the previous government started.

We are proudly doing both because they are both in the best interests of South Australian electricity consumers, who are receiving cheaper, cleaner and more reliable electricity under the Marshall Liberal government.