Australians are in love with batteries and the bond of storage is only expected to grow stronger over coming years.
A new report from the Climate Council finds the market for household batteries tripled in 2017, with more than 20,000 new installations.
The year before, just 6750 households put in batteries.
As well, South Australia installed the high-profile Tesla mega battery and now Victoria, Queensland and the Northern Territory are following suit, while the federal, Queensland and Tasmanian governments are considering developing pumped hydro storage projects.
The council expects the storage boom to continue as prices drop.
The cost of lithium-ion batteries has fallen by 80 per cent over the past seven years and is predicted to at least halve again by 2025.
This makes batteries and other forms of storage increasingly competitive with peaking gas plants – especially with gas prices soaring – for underpinning renewable energy generation.
“Australia’s renewables and battery storage boom will keep the nation’s power grid fully charged, especially during extreme weather events, such as summer heatwaves,” climate councillor Andrew Stock said on Wednesday.
“We live in one of the sunniest and windiest countries in the world, so pairing affordable renewables with energy storage like batteries, pumped hydro and heat storage just makes economic sense.”
Polling in the report finds three-quarters of Australians expect household batteries to become commonplace during the next decade.
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