Solar Energy

In reply to the Hon. J.A. DARLEY (26 May 2021).

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer): The Minister for Energy and Mining has advised:

The South Australian government sees roles for both grid-scale batteries and much smaller batteries attached to peoples' homes or businesses. Both will increase the amount of storage available and will help to address grid management issues. In rolling out the South Australian government's $118 million Home Battery Scheme (HBS), equity and grid management were front of mind. The HBS provides a higher subsidy level for concession card holders and only allows smart batteries that are capable of operating in virtual power plants to be installed, to maximise their potential value in reducing bills whilst supporting the market and the grid.

The South Australian government's $50 million Grid Scale Storage Fund was designed to facilitate the development of new storage technologies capable of addressing the intermittency of South Australia's electricity system. This fund has supported both large batteries and home batteries operating as a grid-scale asset. Neoen was granted $15 million from the fund to expand the Hornsdale Power Reserve by an additional 50 megawatts (MW) / 64.5 megawatt-hours of capacity. The expanded facility enables more capacity to respond to system disturbances and to assist in stabilising the grid, and demonstrate for the first time in Australia the provision of battery powered inertia response, which is expected to be critical in safely running a power system with increasing lower levels of fossil fuel generators. An expansion of the South Australian Virtual Power Plant has also been supported from the fund, by up to $10 million in exchange for providing new grid security benefits to the state. This expansion will see energy systems installed on an additional 3,000 Housing SA properties taking the total participating households to 4,100. In addition, to expand the reach of battery programs, a trial is currently underway of installing batteries without solar systems, which may open up the market for batteries to more residential settings.

The South Australian government is aware of a small number of trials of 'community batteries' in suburban locations. However, their business case in South Australia is yet to be proven. At this time, the market is investing strongly in grid-scale batteries such as the 250MW Torrens Island Battery proposed by AGL and residential and commercial batteries and virtual power plants, which can provide similar grid support. The South Australian government, along with SA Power Networks and other stakeholders, continue to monitor these trials.

There has been an increase in the installation rate of rooftop solar in South Australia since new technical standards commenced in September 2020. This demonstrates continued consumer confidence in rooftop solar and acceptance of the standards brought in to protect the power system from blackouts. Without these new standards and the delivery of the SA-NSW Interconnector, Project EnergyConnect, the expert advice from the Australian Energy Market Operator outlined that a moratorium on new rooftop solar would have been required.