Solar & Storage Progress Magazine Summer 2015

Contents Australian Solar Council Welcome from CEO and Tim Flannery

2 42

Solar and Storage on Show 2016

43

Solar Council programs and events

44

Corporate Members

46

Positive Quality

48

Market Dynamics News and views

4

Cleaner and more efficient energy

8

Building capacity: ARENA and CEFC

13

Infographic: State installations

14

Market sentiment on the rise

41

2

PHOTO ALEX BLOOM

Solar Council advocacy

Front cover: Solar industry veteran Michael Valantine of MV Solar installing a 10 kW PV system on residential units overlooking Nelson Bay, NSW

Special Features GO energy’s expanding network

34

Five things solar customers want,

by Finn Peacock

36

Remote installations

38

‘Challenger’ model for commercial sales 40

Energy Storage Council developments

16

50% renewables by 2030: Yes, we can

by ESC President Steve Blume

18

13

15

Chief Scientist Alan Finkel backs storage 20 Redback Technologies ‘game changer’

22

ESC product and services directory

23

Bosch’s new BPT-S inverter

24

ESC Global Energy Storage Review

25

AllGrid’s WattGrid storage systems

26

Climate Council: Battery and storage powerful potential

28

Storage hybrids

30

SOLAR & STORAGE is published by the AUSTRALIAN SOLAR COUNCIL. ABN 32 006 824 148 www.solar.org.au

Solar & Storage advertising, subscription and membership enquiries contact: Anna Washington, Phone: 0409 802 707 anna@solar.org.au

CEO John Grimes PO Box 231, Mawson ACT 2607 admin@solar.org.au Phone: 1300 768 204

Storage Developments advertising and membership enquiries contact: Lorrae Ingham Energy Storage Council Phone: 0411 407 514 lorrae@energystorage.org.au

38 36 SOLAR & STORAGE EDITOR: Nicola Card editor@solar.org.au nicola@solar.org.au CONTRIBUTORS: Steve Blume, Tim Flannery, Sean Frost, Lorrae Ingram, Joanna Joustra, Luke Konynenburg, Penny Parle, Finn Peacock, Andrew Reddaway DESIGN & PRODUCTION Mitzi Mann

Solar & Storage (Solar Progress) was first published in 1980. The magazine aims to provide readers with an in-depth review of technologies, policies and progress towards a society which sources energy from the sun rather than fossil fuels.

Except where specifically stated, the opinions and material published in this magazine are not necessarily those of the Australian Solar Council. Although every effort is made to check the authenticity and accuracy of articles, neither the Solar Council nor the editors are responsible for any inaccuracy.

Solar & Storage is published quarterly. www.solar.org.au

John Grimes Chief Executive, Australian Solar Council and Energy Storage Council FORMER PM PAUL KEATING once said “when you change the government you change the country”. Now with Prime Minister Turnbull at the helm and some new faces on the team there is an apparent change of attitude towards the solar and energy storage industries. Their words appear to offer a refreshing view of clean technologies. Optimism isn’t income, but we have seen a surge of confidence in renewable energy businesses since the change of leadership. And that is very welcome indeed.

Guest Editorial

We are also seeing strong support for renewables by state governments – Queensland, the ACT and South Australia are standouts, and Victoria, NSW and WA are definitely moving in the right direction.

Developments in energy storage continue to astound. With an emphasis on innovation and smart, user-friendly technology, storage solutions are being adopted by more homeowners and businesses and finding ready markets in remote regions. Looming changes to feed-in tariff schemes will undoubtedly boost the uptake; and another area to watch is the grid itself, with increasing pressures on distribution companies to adapt in a way that in a competitive market would seem natural: by focusing on customers.

Despite some regulatory hurdles presenting significant barriers to wider deployment of renewables, there is growing public and political awareness of the capacity of clean tech solutions to drive efficiencies and cost savings in commercial applications with solar and storage playing a central role.

As this magazine goes to print the eyes of the world are on Paris and the COP21 UN Climate Change Conference. ASC-ESC members can be proud of their vital role in the energy ‘revolution’ that is key to reducing emissions and decarbonising the world economy.

Our industry has endured a tough couple of years, but we are now on the fast train to the future, electric of course, which is carrying intelligent solar and storage solutions. We look forward to ‘getting back to business’ with you all.

“Recent developments in energy storage offer a major way to limit emissions by accelerating the clean energy contribution to the electricity market.”

PHOTO ALEX BLOOM

A 2015 REPORT from the International Energy to reach a market in India, has even developed Agency (IEA) indicates that humanity may an innovative solar module called STEM that finally be departing from the worst-case uses a sand-filled chamber for storage. At half a emissions scenario that we’ve been tracking megawatt in scale, it’s not suited to household for the past decade. Global economic and use, but can operate at the industrial or emissions growth appear to be decoupling, community level. and 2014 may be the peak year for humanJust how long it will take various technologies caused greenhouse gas emissions. This is very to achieve large-scale market penetration is good news, because there is already enough unclear, but one report suggests that by 2018 greenhouse gas in the atmosphere to warm it will be cost competitive for households to earth 1.5˚C above the preindustrial average. buy solar panel and batteries, and go off-grid, The job now is to cut emissions hard and in parts of Australia. And the convergence of fast, so that we have a chance of avoiding 2 technologies is likely to accelerate change. degrees of warming.

Electric vehicles, for example, can double as Recent developments in energy storage battery storage for homes, while in developing offer a major way to limit emissions by countries solar with storage may allow accelerating the clean energy contribution communities to skip over expensive ‘poles to the electricity market. A battery system, and wires’ and to develop community energy for example, can double a household’s networks instead.

Climate Council Chief Councillor Tim Flannery www.climatecouncil.org.au consumption of self-generated rooftop As the Climate Council’s latest report solar electricity. And the rapid development suggests*, storage technology may be the game of electric vehicles will in coming years soften demand for oil products. changer we’ve all been waiting for. But the deployment of both solar and Although lithium ion batteries are a fast growing sector in battery storage, storage technologies will need to occur on a scale not seen before if this is there are many storage options. They include widespread strategies like to be achieved. pumping water into hydro dams at times of low electricity demand, * Andrew Stock, Petra Stock, Veena Sahajwalla (2015). Powerful Potential. Battery through to the newer technologies of compressed air and hydrogen Storage for renewable energy and electric cars. Climate Council of Australia. (See energy storage. The Italian company Magaldi Industries, which I’m helping summary on page 28.)

2 | ISSUE 4 • 2015

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Local and global news Top level pro-renewables Incoming Chief Scientist Dr Alan Finkel drives an electric car, lives in a house powered by solar and wind, and wants the world to be free of dependence on coal.

The strongly pro-renewables advocate has called on Australian governments to ‘wrap their arms around the future’ and wants the wider community to embrace a bolder vision of the century Dr Alan Finkel ahead.

PHOTO: JAIME MURCIA/COSMOS MAGAZINE

Toward zero Beyond Zero Emissions research into energy generation with Melbourne University revealed $370 billion of green energy jobs could be created with current technologies and fully replace coal-fired power stations.

“When you add to this smart homes and buildings, as well as low-carbon land use, high speed rail and electric vehicle options, the green jobs climb towards $1 trillion dollars in value,” says Beyond Zero Emissions CEO Stephen Bygrave.

Gone guy In late October the federal government pulled the plug on climate denier Bjorn Lomborg’s controversial ‘Consensus Centre’, saving taxpayers $4 million and ending public furore over the provocative appointment.

Dr Finkel told Solar & Storage: “One thing that is important globally and that governments should think about is shifting emphasis from subsidies to solar and wind generation to subsidising the development of storage.

“We are now seeing the earliest stage of substantial battery storage capabilities yet it will take decades, decades, before it has a big impact. That is all the more reason to be engaging and investing in it now because the sooner we can accelerate that process the better.”

Read more about Dr Alan Finkel’s progressive views on storage on page 24.

New Maps

The Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney has developed Interactive maps of Australia’s electricity grid. These help identify the most valuable locations to invest in renewable energy and demand management within the grid by providing clear, consistent and timely information on where alternatives to building new electricity network infrastructure can deliver the greatest economic benefit.

Australian solar cell breakthrough Australian manufacturing innovator Dyesol is taking its perovskite solar cell technology from the lab to a mass produced commercially available product. Dyesol is initially aiming for a delivery cost benchmark of US 10 cents per kWh which would place perovskite solar PV cells level-pegging with silicon solar PV. ARENA helped fund Dyesol’s important project.

Solar for aged care “Aged care is one of the biggest growing sectors in Australia and the move to sustainable energy makes financial and environmental sense. It also helps Australia reach its renewable energy goals.”

So says Carinity Manager Peter Lamberth who has to date converted three of the five Queensland aged care communities to solar power under a $1.1 million plan which will save around 459.8 tonnes of greenhouse gases annually.

The 1460 PV panels are positioned at different orientations and pitches to maximise the production of solar energy from the middle of the day to morning and afternoon.

Beattie Clark enjoys a cup of tea made with water heated by the new solar panels.

Dutch snatch victory in Solar Challenge The 2015 World Solar Challenge ended with victory for the Dutch Nuon Solar team which took the lead in the prestigious 3020 kilometre

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race from Darwin to Adelaide during October and held the number one position to the finish in just under 38 hours, averaging 91.75 km/h.

Reinforced by carbon fibre fabrics TeXtreme® their vehicle Nuna8 weighed in at just 150kg and was the lightest car in the competition. Its 250 gram spoiler was completely 3D printed.

Challenger Class competitors are required to complete the entire journey with one battery charge, relying on solar power to fuel whatever is left of the journey after that charge expires.

Honourable mention goes to TAFE SA for taking the top spot in the Adventure Class in

its Solar Spirit vehicle which travelled 1050 kilometres in 47 hours at which stage it was hoisted onto a trailer to the finish line. No cars in this class completed the entire stretch.

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Local and global news Ambassadors for solar energy In early November the Solar Council and Energy Storage Council saluted the achievements of key identities by appointing them as Patrons

A word of thanks

of the Council: former Greens leader Christine Milne; ACT Environment Minister Simon Corbell; and past Liberal leader John Hewson. Here they are photographed with John Grimes (on the right) and Steve Blume (left) at the iconic 20 MW Royalla plant in the ACT that was ushered in by Corbell’s government along with a series of pro-renewables programs. John Grimes said “The support for solar energy demonstrated by each of these key people from across the political spectrum can only be described as outstanding, and their substantial efforts to progress the uptake of renewables continues.”

3D CST The Australian Solar Thermal Research Initiative has developed a 3D printable desktop model of a 25 MW concentrating solar thermal (CST) reference power plant. The 19 x 19 cm printable plant model details the layout and positioning of more than 140 of the 6377 heliostats that make up a complete solar field including receiver tower and two molten salt storage

tanks. The model represents part of a plant that could generate up to 90 GWh of solar thermal energy (electric) per year with four hours of storage per day.

The desktop model is designed as an education tool enabling Australians ‘hands on’ knowledge of the benefits, value and opportunity presented by grid and fringe-of-grid concentrating solar thermal technology. www.astri.org.au

Petition being presented to Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle and chair of the City’s environment portfolio Arron Wood The Climate Council collected 31,000 signatures to present to the City of Melbourne in support of its commitment to solar power for businesses. The pledge read: “Thank you for making it easy and affordable for Melbourne’s small and medium-sized businesses to go solar.

We’re thrilled this will support Melbourne’s goal of securing 25 per cent of its power from renewables by 2018. May your leadership and innovation inspire other cities and towns across Australia.”

The City’s Commercial Solar Rebates program provided businesses with rebates of between $2000 and $4000 and added 132 kW of capacity.

SolarReserve program award

The award provides R&D funding to advance breakthrough molten salt technology to lower costs of 24-hour Concentrating Solar Power

Aerial image of Vast Solar’s 30 MW Jemalong Solar Station - Concentrating Solar Thermal Power Solar & Storage is printed by Printgraphics whose green credentials include:

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Utility-scale solar power projects developer SolarReserve – the name behind the 110 MW Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Plant in Nevada – has received a Concentrating Solar Power Advanced Projects Offering Low LCOE Opportunities (CSP: APOLLO) program award from the US Department of Energy SunShot Initiative. This aims to “aggressively drive innovation” to make solar energy fully costcompetitive with traditional energy sources before the end of the decade.

Smart Energy Solutions – Intelligent networking between electrical and thermal energy

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Our intelligent energy solutions facilitate the distribution of generated solar energy and network the energy produced to thermal and electrical storage systems. Bosch offers technology for life: We stand for long-term solutions and forward thinking ideas. Find out more about us at www.bosch-power-tec.com

Energy advances

Smarter

cleaner ENERGY

The Canadian Solar team at work on IKEA Richmond

Clean Energy and energy efficiency go hand in hand, and are now being embraced by an increasing number of retailers and commercial entities through a range of upgrades, programs and initiatives.

ENERGY CONSUMPTION IS ON THE DECLINE: according to the National Energy Market in 2014 there was a 1.1 per cent reduction which is attributed to growing energy awareness and efficiency coupled with the continuous uptake of rooftop PV systems. More than 1.3 million now live with solar systems and as we now know the average size rooftop PV system in Australia increased from 1.3 kW in 2009 to 4.4 kW in 2015.

As grid consumption declines, so do emissions from power generation: falling more than 13 per cent in the past four years alone. From 2004 to

“An increasing number of retailers and businesses fully comprehend the rationale for improvements in energy efficiency and are taking positive action. Momentum will continue.

Now with a range of finance models supporting clean technologies it makes more sense than ever to invest in technology upgrades and reap the benefits of lower energy bills.”

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2014 coal generation fell 14 per cent while the share of renewables rose from 7 per cent to 11.8 per cent, hitting a high of 13.8 per cent in 2013.

Climate Works Australia found that in the past three years, the amount of energy needed to heat and cool a new home fell by almost a fifth and today new offices use a third less energy than that of a decade ago.

Good NABERS In the office sector, National Australian Built Environment Rating System levels and sustainability credentials are becoming an important competitive advantage for attracting investment, and that spurred real estate group Mirvac, which back in 2008 achieved just 2.5 stars, to lift its NABERS Energy rating to 5 stars across its office portfolio. Early in 2015 the group announced an industry with the first 6 star NABERS Energy rating without GreenPower for a 46,000 square metre building in ACT. The structure sports an 80 kW solar PV system, a chiller plant optimisation system and sensor-based LEDs. Shopping centres are also achieving higher energy and water ratings with the NABERS annual report highlighting the near doubling in ratings from 59 in FY 2014 to 109 in FY 2015. The upgrades are in part response to investors’ increased awareness – and demand – for sustainability credentials and several global chains are fast tracking initiatives in the space by investing in clean technologies.

For its part, Stockland’s energy efficient shopping centres have benefitted from significant investment in LED lighting as well as heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) plant upgrades. Stockland sustainability manager for commercial property, Greg Johnson commented

Energy advances

requirements,” he said. “Currently the NSW stores combined consume 125 GWh a year and we hope we can save up them between 30 and 40 per cent of that.”

GO energy’s plan incorporates lighting upgrades and in many cases solar installations. “Maybe [down the track] battery storage too – the objective is to reduce Aldi’s carbon footprint and get value for money from cheaper power. This is the right time to implement this with the available benefits and subsidies through the RET,” Emile explained.

CEFC supports smart cities

Stockland shopping centre at Shellharbour boasts the nation’s largest rooftop PV system (photos above and below)

on the company’s long history with NABERS in the office sector as well as within shopping centres. Rating 18 centres in FYE 2015 the group claimed the title of “highest major portfolio average for energy” at 4.27 stars without GreenPower.

“The next step for us is renewable energy, which will see us reducing the amount of energy we draw from the grid,” he said, citing Stockland Shellharbour shopping centre which now carries Australia’s largest rooftop system in Australia, helping the centre achieve its NABERS energy rating of 4.5 stars. Todae installed the 1.2 MW solar system at Shellharbour and Canadian Solar Australia picked up lead contract on EPC for the project.

IKEA idea Manager Daniel Ruoss also told Solar & Storage about Canadian’s significant involvement with IKEA which has adopted a long-term approach to sustainability, manifest in the global ambition to switch to renewable energy and become energy independent by 2020. IKEA is now involved in a “considerable undertaking” installing solar systems on roofs of stores and warehouses across Australia.

IKEA’s transition is touted Australia’s largest commercial PV project.

Daniel reeled off the big numbers: more than 4 MW of solar PV across three states: among the largest are Victoria’s 950 kW plant at Springvale and 721 kW in Richmond, with each install taking from six to nine weeks.

Collectively the 12,122 PV modules on IKEA sites will generate around 4,658 MWh of clean energy annually, offsetting 4700 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Supermarket giant Aldi is also among those turning attention to green credentials, and within Australia has selected GO energy to progress aspirations. Emile Abdurahman of GO energy told Solar & Storage about the sustainability program underway for all 179 stores in NSW. “Aldi has a CSR mission, top down from Germany, and made a decision to work with a party that would manage their energy efficiency and clean technology

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The Clean Energy Finance Corporation has targeted the commercial sector and teamed up with lenders to supply finance packages and unlock ‘key investment opportunities’ for Smart Future Cities in transport, greener buildings and clean energy.

The corporation is financing commercial retrofits and upgrades and investing in better buildings, cleaner energy, cleaner vehicles and more productive business across the country, across technologies and across sectors.

CEFC CEO Oliver Yates reminds the community that technologies like LED street lighting, solar PV and battery storage, smarter energy management, waste-to-energy plants and energy-efficient, hybrid and electric vehicles can all be financed through CEFC programs.

The CEFC has contributed up to $30 million to the City of Melbourne for energy efficient LED bulbs in public places, the Sustainable Melbourne Fund (SMF) to finance Environmental Upgrade Agreements and expansion of the plan to retrofit commercial property. Also earmarked is 300 kW of rooftop solar panels on Council and community facilities and on other sustainability initiatives based on the outcomes of a five-year Council emission reduction plan.

The upgrades will slash City of Melbourne energy bills by $1.1 million annually, and reduce emissions by 110,000 tonnes over the next decade in the city committed to achieving Zero Net Emissions by 2020 and whose target is to source 25 per cent of electricity from renewables by 2018.

The city of Adelaide has its own ambition: to become the world’s first carbon neutral city, and the City of Sydney is well down the path of sustainability, its Town Hall undergoing an “iconic” project. Neil Maisey of Optimal – distributor of small-scale gas turbines – is supplying 1.4 MW of Capstone Cooling Heat and Power (CCHP) to the Town Hall which is estimated to reduce the city’s CO2 emissions by 3 per cent for this project alone.

“It will be great,” Neil told Solar & Storage, adding in relation to a series of projects underway that “Underlying all this is people’s will to want to

Energy advances

States driving clean and efficient energy use Some notable policies and achievements by state governments

SGCH affordable housing

take action on climate change. They say ‘if I can buy and install products that are more energy efficient and carbon neutral then I will’.”

Housing for all Back to the CEFC which in its first investment in energy efficiency for affordable housing has teamed up with St George community housing (SGCH) on a new energy efficient affordable housing project for people on low-to-moderate incomes. The project is funded by $60 million in long-term senior debt from the CEFC. The plan involves double glazed windows, improved insulation, and the installation of ceiling fans to target an 8-star rating under the Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS).

CEFC CEO Oliver Yates said “This innovative initiative shows how better energy solutions can make a real difference in our community for years to come. Energy efficient homes mean lower energy bills, as well as lower emissions, which have the potential to drive the transformation of our cities’ operations, their sustainability and their liveability.”

But just how far can this go? The Beyond Zero Emissions Buildings Plan calculates that all residential and commercial buildings in Australia could be converted to generate just as much energy as they consumed, and in the process create $270 billion in green jobs in the construction industry.

Clearly transformation is underway. Energy efficiency and clean technology are very much on the radar of major retailers, real estate groups, builders and investors and like-minded corporations, all keen to drive improvements. Energy storage which is attracting enormous interest, innovation and investment will undoubtedly play a key role

The NSW Baird government has been applauded for its new improved Energy Savings Scheme enabling more households and businesses to purchase and install energy efficient products (gas hot water systems, LED lighting and more efficient fridges). By their estimates savings in power bills will amount to $8.2 billion during the life of the scheme which now stretches out to 2025. The energy savings target will rise from 5 per cent to 7 per cent in 2016 and progressively to 8.5 per cent by 2019.

One in ten NSW homes have rooftop PV systems and today under the state’s RE action plan around 13 per cent of energy generation derives from renewables.

For its part Victoria’s Labor party ruled out the previous government’s threat to the Victorian Energy Efficiency Target (VEET) scheme by the end of 2014, which has prompted a strong resurgence of interest in commercial and residential lighting activities. The state government has expressed support for a 50 per cent renewables target by 2030 and is penning the state’s Renewables roadmap and detailed action plan.

The sunshine state of Queensland is racing ahead with its renewables agenda and is already delivering on promises to achieve its RE target of 50 per cent by 2030 through a range of solar and other initiatives, with an eye on the environment, job creation and economic diversification. In a sign of burgeoning confidence the solar only reverse auction which was boosted 50 per cent to 60 megawatts received a staggering ten times the level of anticipated interest.

Completing the renewables picture: ACT is well on the way to de-carbonisation having set a goal of 40 per cent emissions reduction by 2020 (based on 1990 levels) and 90 per cent RE by 2020 followed by 100 per cent by 2025. ACT has also established a $1.2 million RE innovation fund and legislated for 25 per cent of low income households to benefit from the territory’s energy efficiency scheme which encompasses a range of initiatives.

South Australia leads the way: one in four houses have rooftop PV and the state has set a target of 50 per cent RE by 2025.

Over in Western Australia the Liberal government is making positive noises about solar and storage and tapping into the commercial and residential markets while demand for off grid solar remains solid in remote regions.

At federal level Federal Coalition: The revised down RET target of 33,000 GWh is still likely to trigger around 40 large-scale projects and billions in investment.

The replacement of Abbott by Turnbull has led to a surge in confidence in the renewable sector, which continues to strengthen.

Federal Opposition Labor Party Policy: In a strong show of support for clean energy, 50 per cent renewables by 2030.

and accelerate progress both at the technological level and within the community by changing the way people think about the use and origins of energy.

Solar Council CEO John Grimes welcomes all advances, saying greater energy efficiency and tapping into more renewables benefits everyone – from the environment to industry and all in between. “An increasing

12 | ISSUE 4 • 2015

number of retailers and businesses fully comprehend the rationale for improvements in energy efficiency and are taking positive action,” he said.

“Momentum will continue. Now with a range of finance models supporting clean technologies it makes more sense than ever to invest in technology upgrades and reap the benefits of lower energy bills.”

The 1.7 MW Solar Farm at Weipa

Solar’s BIGGER picture Indications are that the Turnbull led Coalition government is more receptive to the CEFC and the ARENA, both now housed within the Department of the Environment to facilitate investment in new renewable technologies, especially solar and storage. Environment Minister Hunt says the renewables sector should feel “very supported” under new Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull who continues to emphasise the importance of innovation and has held meetings with staunch pro-renewables Chief Scientist Alan Finkel.

CEFC and ARENA investment and initiatives

Cloud prediction = cheaper solar

Together CEFC and ARENA have pledged $350 million to kick start new large-scale solar projects that should result in four to 10 new largescale solar farms built in Australia. ARENA’s $100 million program seeks bids from major solar PV project proponents planning a minimum generation capacity of 5 MW for grants of up to $30 million, and CEFC’s complementary $250 million large-scale solar financing program supports projects with loan requirements of $15 million or more.

The CEFC is also targeting support for projects within other large-scale renewable energy programs, including the ACT’s 50 MW Next Generation Solar initiative, the Queensland Government’s 60 MW solar auction and Ergon Energy’s 150 MW renewable energy program.

CEFC CEO Oliver Yates said “While the costs of large-scale solar PV are decreasing, this financing boost will help Australian projects move down the cost curve, in line with international trends.”

ARENA has channeled $2.3 million toward a project in Karratha, WA on Cloud Predictive Technology to anticipate solar energy output and address how CPT can make solar generation cheaper and more efficient by reducing or eliminating storage requirements.

Led by SunEdison Australia, the project will supply 1 MW of solar energy to the Karratha Airports.

The Karratha Airport initiative is one of ARENA’s 110 involve solar PV technology projects.

Voyages Ayers Rock Resort The Clean Energy Finance Corporation has committed $4.7 million to iconic resort Voyages Ayers Rock which will soon be powered by a 1.8 MW PV system via five ground and roof mounted solar PV systems ranging from 150 kW to 1 MW that will supply about a third of the resort’s peak daytime demand. The tender to install the system was awarded to Epuron and its construction partner CPS National.

Broken Hill solar plant In mid September AGL’s much talked about plant in Broken Hill began generating, with 26 MW of renewable energy feeding into the National Electricity Market. Together with sister plant at Nyngan which came online in June and is also supported by ARENA, they have a capacity of 155 MW and can lay claim to being the largest solar power plant in the Southern Hemisphere.

CEFC supports Smart Future Cities, housing projects CEFC finance programs invest in better buildings, cleaner energy, cleaner vehicles and more productive business, achieved through technologies like LED street lighting, solar PV and battery storage, smarter energy management, waste-to-energy plants and energy-efficient, hybrid and electric vehicles.

For its part the City of Melbourne has tapped into CEFC finance as part of its $30 million program of clean energy initiatives to help it reach its goal of zero net emissions by 2020.

Elsewhere essential service workers, including school and hospital staff, will benefit from a new energy efficient affordable housing project financed through $60 million in long-term senior debt from CEFC and SGCH which is expected to construct 200-plus new energy efficient homes and retrofit some of its 4300 existing older properties with energy efficient technologies. www.cleanenergyfinancecorp.com.au www.arena.gov.au AGL and First Solar’s 53 MW plant at Broken Hill

Diesel displacement solar plant Featuring 18,000 advanced First Solar photovoltaic (PV) modules, the 1.7 MW Weipa Solar Plant will generate electricity for Rio Tinto’s Weipa bauxite mine, processing facilities and township on the Western Cape York Peninsula. The plant is expected to produce an average of 2800 megawatt hours of electricity annually which will be purchased by Rio Tinto under a 15-year Power Purchase Agreement.

ARENA provided an initial $3.5 million; up to $7.8 million is available for the second phase.

Solar & Storage | 13

• Steve Blume on 50% renewables by 2030: Yes, We Can • Chief Scientist espouses the importance of storage • The ESC Global Energy Storage report • Climate Council: Battery technology and potential • AllGrid’s WattGrid - an indigenous first • Bosch introduces its new hybrid inverter • Redback Technologies: up and running in inverter innovation stakes

IMAGE COURTESY OF REDBACK TECHNOLOGIES

Founding members

IN OCTOBER THE ENERGY STORAGE COUNCIL released its Global Energy Storage Market Overview & Regional Summary Report in collaboration with international partners and industry experts.

The report identifies the applications, geographies and technologies that will experience the greatest growth in the short term. It also reviews the economics of key applications and timeframes for their adoption.

International energy storage organisations and experts providing input to the report included the Energy Storage Council, California Energy Storage Alliance, China Energy Storage Alliance, DNV GL, India Energy Storage Alliance and the National Electrical Communications Association.

The Report is currently available to all members and partners of contributing organisations. Please refer to page 25 for more information.

Platinum members

Gold members

Australian Energy Storage Directory In September the Energy Storage Council launched the first Australian directory of energy storage developers, products, and consultants. The directory is rapidly growing with over 60 products and services now listed. View the directory and more information at: http://directory.energystorage.org.au/

Silver members

ESC on the International Stage In mid-November ESC President Steve Blume attended the Energy Storage Summit in Tokyo where he presented an address on energy storage business models in Australia. He also discussed developments and opportunities with representatives from key international organisations.

Energy Storage Council Industry Events The ESC is hosting a series of events over the coming months to support and promote the energy storage industry (see page 44).

In late 2015 the ESC in partnership with the Solar Council is presenting a series of early evening networking events across Australia. This will follow on from an informative energy storage training session in the afternoon presented by Supply Partners.

The ESC will be hosting a Queensland Energy Storage Forum in February 2016. The Forum will highlight the state’s research & development, innovation and key industry projects including keynote presentation by Mark Bailey, Queensland’s Minister for Energy.

From 4 – 5 May 2016, ESC hosts its second annual, free-toattend Energy Storage Council Conference alongside the Solar Energy Conference & Exhibition in Melbourne.

The 2016 Conference will again bring together leading industry experts, policymakers and innovators.

And with exhibition growth and additional conference presentations, this is the industry event not to be missed!

Sponsorship and exhibition opportunities are still available, email Lorrae@energystorage.org.au for further details.

All upcoming event details can be found at www.energystorage.org.au

16 | ISSUE 4 • 2015

Bronze members DPA Solar Dynamic Solar Energy Invest Australia Enervision Australia EV Power Australia Greenlink Solar I Want Energy Infinity Power

K&L Gates MyPower MP Natural Solar Navitus Solar Off Grid Power Solutions Renewable Energy Installations Reposit Power

Solar PV Commercial SolarIM SolarQuotes Standard Solar Sunjuice Solar The Green House Effect TKSolar

Towards Tomorrow Energy Tropical Energy Solutions Wayne Kaufline ZAPD Energy Zest Energy

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Fifty per cent renewables by 2030 – not a fairy tale Steve Blume says Once Upon a Time We All Used Renewable Energy – and We Can Again.

IN THE BEGINNING there was fire and as the title of a book from the great Amory Lovins says we are in the process of Reinventing Fire – with renewables that create the energy we get from fire, but without ‘smoke’!

I am going to place a context around what is happening right now in renewable energy (RE), PV especially, and the advances in local and network storage, which offer us the opportunity to again be in more direct control of our energy needs. I will also show why the 50 per cent RE by 2030 targets of many Australian States and the ACT, the federal Labor Party and many overseas jurisdictions is eminently achievable.

Up until around 300 years ago we used renewable energy to cook our food, heat our homes and drive our tools. We used wood and other biomass and then flowing water which we diverted onto machines run with waterwheels or dammed to store the power of water flow in any season. Then came coal and oil and gas – which as someone has said have been a boon to humanity. That is a truth, but not the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Major advances in living standards around the globe can rightly be attributed to the positive impacts of fossil fuels. Cheap and plentiful energy has allowed continuing improvements in the provision food, shelter, health, transport and wealth for more and more people. But for more than 40 years now, and for a small few much longer than that, we have known that fossil fuels come with massive costs not just benefits.

The time to bring those costs to account has arrived.

Counting the cost The change from renewable to fossil fuel energy sources has been at a cost to the environment at local levels where the extraction and processing leave damaged flora, fauna, water, soil and other resources.

Globally the cost of our fossil fuel use is to the Earth’s climate which we are changing as we release carbon and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere in a very short time which had been sequestered naturally for millions of years.

We now know, so cannot ignore, that we must reduce our emissions sufficiently to try to keep global temperature rise to no more than 2-3°C and that we must keep doing so to start reducing average temperatures. Failing to do so will alter the capacity of the planet to support life – a capacity already stretched by

18 | ISSUE 4 • 2015

“Australians know renewable energy is better than fossil fuels for the environment, electricity prices, the economy and jobs.

What is needed is the recognition by the Federal Government that the energy system transformation towards renewables, which is underway around the world, must be encouraged in Australia too.” human over-population. These are not abstract costs – we can monetise them and they must be brought into our economic system.

Those facts are what drives the world wide shift to renewable energy – the science tells us we have to leave at least four-fifths of all known fossil fuel reserves in the ground if we have any chance of mitigating the negative impacts of climate change. We will need to make major adaptive changes regardless, but so we can offer a continued path to betterment for all humans we need to transform our energy systems to renewably based resources using the energy from the sun.

We have seen these 50 per cent renewables by 2030 and higher commitments. For example, the EU is on track to generate 50 per cent of its electricity from renewables by 2030. Germany has a target of 40-45 per cent renewables by 2025, California 50 per cent by 2030. Locally, South Australia has a target of 50 per cent renewables by 2025; Queensland 50 per cent by 2030; ACT 90 per cent by 2020 and 100 per cent by 2025.

What are they and can they be achieved in Australia? It is important to understand what we are talking about – in this case the commitments

“Electricity [production] in Australia creates around 33 per cent of national greenhouse gas emissions … 50 per cent renewables could reduce emissions by 20 per cent by 2030.”

relate to the production of electricity, which in Australia creates around 33 per cent of national greenhouse gas emissions. With reductions in the use of gas and the adoption of clean energy options in the transport sector involving electrification there is strong potential for even greater emissions reductions through a 50 per cent RE target.

A range of reports and studies internationally by IEA, IRENA and others, as well as work by the Climate Change Authority, the Climate Council and others looking at the Australian context, demonstrate that the investment cost for this level of expansion of renewable energy by 2030 will be more than offset by costs savings associated with pollution from fossil fuels.

Toward 50 per cent As Ric Brazzale has shown1, the path to reach 50 per cent RE by 2030 requires no more than to follow the existing trajectory of the RET out from 2020. He says that we would see 16 GW on rooftops by 2030 – up from the nearly 5 GW now installed. In his article earlier this year he wrote: “There is no doubt that we have the renewable resource base to achieve a 50 per cent renewables target. The Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics in their November 2014 report on ‘Electricity Generation Major Projects’ identified that there were more than 15,000 MW of renewable energy projects under assessment. The total capacity of large-scale renewables projects that need to be built by 2030 is approximately 19,500 MW. Most of what we need to build has already been identified and is under development. An average build rate of 1400 MW each year (approximately $2.8 billion per annum) is not that difficult given that we need to build at this rate to meet the 2020 target.”

Bloomberg suggests that 21 GW of PV on residential and commercial building rooftops is quite achievable and that could take us to 37 per cent RE by 2030. This is not to suggest any simple continuation of the financial support mechanism used by the RET – the falling costs of PV on rooftop and utility scale, the developments and cost reductions in large scale solar thermal technologies, the rapid take-up and lowering of costs of storage as well as a huge jump in energy efficiency and conservation will all play a part in allowing us to reach that target. Importantly we can do so at a reasonable and competitive cost as Hugh Saddler and others make clear2.

Complementary measures But there is a suite of measures that can be used other than the Renewable Energy Target including: existing hydro and pre-RET household solar; a carbon price; additional action by Commonwealth and State and Territory Governments; rapid uptake of energy storage and energy efficiency; and the closure of inefficient power stations and emissions intensive facilities. This last has to happen in any case as fully 65 per cent of all coal fired power stations in Australian will be more than 40 years old and at the end of their economic life should be replaced by renewable alternatives as the graphic shows3. There are renewable alternatives available right now which are competitive with new build gas or coal even absent a price on carbon – financial institutions are already factoring in such a price and that makes renewables the no-brainer choice.

Around 21,000 Australians work in the solar industry, through some 5000 small and medium sized solar businesses. Around 6000 Australians currently work in large-scale renewables. This will more than double under a 50 per cent renewables target. A combination of at least 50 per cent renewables, energy efficiency, fuel switching and electric vehicles could halve Australia’s emissions by 2030. At least 50 per cent renewables alone could reduce Australia’s emissions by 20 per cent by 2030.

“The science tells us we have to leave at least four-fifths of all known fossil fuel reserves in the ground if we have any chance of mitigating the negative impacts of climate change.”

Australians know renewable energy is better than fossil fuels for the environment, electricity prices, the economy and jobs. What is needed is the recognition by the Federal Government that the energy system transformation towards renewables, which is underway around the world, must be encouraged in Australia too. In some cases there can be financial support for early stage deployment and we see CEFC and ARENA already doing some of that work. In other cases active identification of regulatory and market barriers to renewables and their removal or modification will be needed. We have seen the first indications of a change of attitude from the Turnbull Government and they have been positive. A valuable signal to the industry would be the removal of the abolishment Bills still posing a threat to the very existence of both organisations. There needs to be a reengagement with the solar industry to start on plans out to 2030 for solar, storage and other renewables so Australian small and large businesses alike can accelerate into the biggest growth sector the world has seen over the past several years after two stalled years. Again there are healthy and positive signs of goodwill to do so. The Australian Solar Council and Energy Storage Council look forward to getting on with business – so all our Members can do just the same.

Steve Blume is President of the Australian Solar Council and Energy Storage Council.

References http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/50-per-cent-renewables-market-share-by2030-what-does-it-mean-95192 2 http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/how-much-would-labors-50-renewablespolicy-cost-australian-households-22116 3 https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/australia-s-electricity-sector-ageing-inefficientand-unprepared 1

PHOTO: JAIME MURCIA /COSMOS MAGAZINE

Incoming Chief Scientist:

the powerful potential of storage Incoming Chief Scientist Alan Finkel “That is all the more – a leading advocate of renewable reason to be engaging energy – has expressed strong views and investing in storage on the potential of energy storage. In now because the sooner an interview with Solar & Storage the day his appointment was announced, we can accelerate that Dr Finkel said “There is absolutely process the better.” no doubt that carbon dioxide levels are going up all the time. It’s easily measured and we have to do something about that [and] there is no alternative than to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels because they contribute to the bulk of what we are seeing.

“We need to worry about energy efficiency and reducing our carbon dioxide levels per unit of GDP. That is critically important but we also need to bring that from zero emissions resources and the obvious ones are solar wind hydro – but solar and wind have a big shortcoming as they are intermittent, we know about that.

“One thing that is important globally for governments to think about is shifting emphasis from subsidies to solar and wind generation to subsidising the development of storage.

“To some extent the battle has been won by solar and wind but there is a big gap in our ability to get system-level scale … we need scale. We are not even close to what we need yet – in any country. And we are not going to achieve scale without storage. Yes, the scale of storage is taking off quickly but not at the speed I’d like to see it.”

“We are now seeing Dr Finkel added “The energy sector of our economy is I the earliest stage of think the biggest sector of substantial battery our economy and it has huge storage capabilities yet momentum … but solar energy it will take decades, still represents a tiny fraction decades, before it has of the total energy produced. a big impact.”

Changes are decadal.

Dr Alan Finkel

“One thing that is important globally and that governments should think about is shifting emphasis on subsidies to the solar and wind generation into subsidising the development of storage.”

“We are now seeing the earliest stage of substantial battery storage capabilities yet it will take decades, decades, before it has a big impact.

“That is all the more reason to be engaging and investing in storage now because the sooner we can accelerate that process the better.”

Emission reductions Alan Finkel drives an electric car and publicly advocates its status as the “transport technology of the future”. He wrote: “One day, everyone’s driving could be close to emissionsfree, like mine is. The more of us who buy electric cars and power them with green electricity the faster that day will come.” His career includes a period in electric vehicle charge network provision.

Speaking at a recent conference Finkel noted an “appetite for change and for innovation” – an appetite led by the Prime Minister whose government was using its resources more diligently.

“The PM gets it.”

In response to those declaring global warming predictions were not coming true and that climate change was mythical or at best exaggerated, Finkel stated “I’ve no doubt about the processes of climate change and the consequences, it’s basic physics. Carbon dioxide levels need to be cut. Can we live and adapt? It’s very complex.”

Dr Finkel has long stated the need to ditch coal by 2050.

Small study big findings

Ecoult’s UltraBattery

Ten adjacent homes in Townsville are participating in a 12 month Ergon Energy trial to test battery storage systems and early results indicate customers with a greater awareness of energy use will be smarter and more conservative with household power use.

The trial of home energy management systems and alternative tariffs which will influence the future of Ergon’s network forms part of Queensland’s renewable energy policy agenda under the Palaszczuk Government.

Sydney-based Ecoult has launched its 25 kW “medium-scale solution” UltraBattery destined for the commercial market. The battery array which comes with more than 11 kWh of storage will be sold at less than $20,000.

CEO John Wood believes the CSIRO-developed “supercharged lead-acid battery hybrid” is a strong competitor to lithium ion rivals including cost and says that “Lead acid chemistry really is the giant in plain sight in the search for energy storage resources to support the integration of higher proportions of renewables in a whole of system approach.”

Lead acid storage manufactured worldwide currently clocks in around 10 times that of lithium ion.

By mid 2016 Ecoult will have launched its residential storage battery that will be around 5 kWh.

20 | ISSUE 4 • 2015

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Smart hybrid inverter Redback Technologies’ competitively priced smart hybrid inverter is set to shape and shake-up the storage world. Here we learn about the string of alliances and deals that turned a bold vision into a smart new reality.

REDBACK TECHNOLOGIES RECENTLY LAUNCHED its much-anticipated advanced hybrid inverter coupled with a 48 V battery bank which can intuitively determine when it’s best to store or use energy produced from rooftop solar panels. The system is said to be hitting the market at around half of the cost of comparable European systems, enabling more homeowners to take part in the storage revolution.

The ‘game changing’ energy storage system which attracted a range of Australian investors was masterminded by Australian solar experts who developed the prototype and collaborated with a Seattle-based design consultancy before securing a part ownership deal with a Chinese inverter manufacturer to enable vertical integration. That is just one important prong of the cost saving model.

Redback Technologies’ Managing Director Phil Livingston told Solar & Storage the manufacturer effectively “created the space” while Redback received full patents on the product and retains ownership of all the technology.

“Our other strengths are the very low cost of the hybrid inverters and our partnership with Microsoft which recently released its Azure Internet of Things suite to the general public, allowing customers to use preconfigured data and machine led solutions to better run businesses,” Phil explained.

“Microsoft provides the platform for us and our own team then develops the most cutting edge technologies to allow for optimisation of the solar systems and predictive analytics as well as the control of the systems in the field. We have not had to reinvent the wheel - it’s all been done for us.”

Teaming up with an off-the-shelf Microsoft software package is regarded a master stroke.

“Our competitors have [started from scratch and] designed and built their own software solutions. There has been a whole wave of concentration on internet companies to provide innovative solutions.”

For his part Redback Technologies CIO Paul Liddell is reported as saying “The future of energy intranet, the future of Internet of Things, the future of energy storage and of distributed generation - is a marriage of all of these technologies into one.”

Sales up, costs down Redback’s “constant cost reduction plan” will help drive uptake of the inverter; Phil Livingston says that while the costs are already competitive

Tech specs • Raspberry Pi computer • Windows 10 core Internet of Things (IoT) operating system enabling comparisons of home energy usage against optimum performance levels, and diagnosis of potential service failures.

• Adjustable battery capacity of 100 to 10,000 Amp-Hours, maximum efficiency (to utility grid) of 97.6 per cent.

• Redback App enabling users to view real-time energy output and loads from remote locations • Five year warranty

22 | ISSUE 4 • 2015

Redback’s Smart Hybrid System is tipped to head the surge in storage they “might well be 20 per cent lower within a year”. Economies of scale will kick in along the way.

Redback Technologies has been in discussions with all major utilities and network service providers with Phil stating “The level of interest shown by them and major installation companies here and overseas, and among everyone we have met, has been much greater than we anticipated.

“Shareholders, stakeholders and utilities that do business with Redback are set to benefit from the commodity. We are creating cheaper distributed energy for consumers as well as back-up power. This provides a greater level of resilience that will help counter the climate change debacle we are about to experience.”

Value driven demand The Redback team says the product is one that will market itself.

“We’re an engineering company. We create solutions, software solutions; we’re not about producing spin for local consumption so you will not see Redback spending lots of money promoting this.” Phil explained. “Instead we will concentrate on our businesses partners like Solar+Solutions to help us in the process of getting the product to market.

But the product sells itself at the existing price point.

“This year [2015] we expected to sell a certain volume of units – yet in the three weeks leading up and including All Energy we had already tripled that volume. We are already anticipating major volumes driven by demand from larger entities.

“The levelised cost of energy production … that is real and if you were to ask any independent person they will say the same thing. We are going to lead the charge in terms of value for money. People will copy us – and that is good. It keeps us innovative. A range of technologies are coming out that are similar to our technology but further exacerbate our competitors’ weakness in innovation.”

From mid November the Smart Hybrid System was available at Sonepar’s (L&H Group) 180 wholesale locations around Australia. www.redbacktech.com

Australian Energy Storage Council

Launches Energy Storage Directory Looking for energy storage developers, products and consultants in Australia?

www.directory.energystorage.org.au

Battery Energy Storage

Energy Management Systems

Mechanical Energy Storage

Thermal Energy Storage

Chemical Energy Storage

Energy Storage Systems

Storage Products and Services

Vehicles Electric

Companies in the directory produce and supply technology, products, support and advice for the energy storage industry in Australia.

If you would like to find out how to list your company in the directory, please contact Lorrae Ingham at lorrae@energystorage.org.au or 0411 407 514.

Bosch’s smart home solution Visitors to Munich Intersolar in July were among the first to see Bosch’s new BPT-S inverter which was launched in Germany with great success. The company’s second target market is Australia where the new system captured interest at All Energy.

Solar & Storage caught up with Frederik Troester to find out more.

SEVERAL YEARS AGO Bosch was among the first to anticipate the megashift toward energy storage and developed the fully integrated BPT-S 5 Hybrid battery storage system. The company has since fine-tuned some of the technologies and teamed up with German manufacturer SOLARWATT to offer the BPT-S inverter coupled with the SOLARWATT MyReserve Li-ion battery system to the Australian market.

“The good thing about this is the combination of two brands that are both made and assembled in Germany: both parts of the system, that is Bosch’s BPT-S string inverters and the SOLARWATT’s MyReserve battery, are fully attuned to each other and thoroughly tested,” Fred explained, adding the MyReserve system fulfils the highest safety requirements according to German Safety Guide on Stationary Battery Systems and several international standards.

The low weight system developed for plug&play can be installed in Fred Troester with Bosch’s new BPT-S inverter

about one to two hours due to the relatively simple connection with the string inverter; no additional work is required.

“The installation of the system is very easy as you just place the battery in between the panels and our inverter,” Fred said. “Many systems on the market require a hybrid inverter which comes at an additional upfront but the MyReserve battery systems works perfectly with our Bosch BPT-S gridconnect string inverter.“ Within the one housing of the MyReserve system is a DC/DC converter and two x 2.2 kWh battery modules with a total of 4.4 kWh. Those wanting to upgrade can obtain a second housing with up to three batteries, taking the system to 11 kWh of storage which is the current limit.

“What we see now in the market is all about storage readiness so people want to install an inverter with a storage solution at hand. That said everyone is ready for storage but not yet ready to pay the price. This is likely to change in 2016 and especially in 2017,” Fred said in reference to increasing affordability.

The system which has already sold out in Germany to the end of the year will be available in Australia from Q2 2016.

“What we see now in the market is all about storage readiness so people want to install an inverter with a storage solution at hand. That said everyone is ready for storage but not ready to pay the price [but] this is likely to change in 2016 and especially in 2017.”

Tech specs Bosch BPT-S Inverter: Power Classes: 3/3.68/4/4.6 kW (AC Output) Efficiency: 97% MPP Voltage Range: 170-600V

SOLARWATT MyReserve: Capacity: 4.4/6.6/8.8/11 kWh Depth of discharge: 100% Dimensions: 98.4 x 73.4 x 31 cm Full weight: 78 kg (individual components max weight 25 kg) Overall efficiency (full round-trip): 93% Wall mounted 10-year battery warranty

Enphase Energy’s full package FROM EARLY DECEMBER Australia and New Zealand will be the first markets worldwide to receive the Enphase Home Energy Solution which combines solar generation, energy control, and energy storage via the Enphase plug-and-play AC Battery (which will hit the market a bit later, around Easter 2016).

Users of the smart-grid ready Enphase Envoy-S Metered™ gateway can securely monitor and manage their home energy consumption via web-enabled devices and “rightsize” their energy storage system to optimise the energy value.

24 | ISSUE 4 • 2015

Enphase CEO Paul Nahi targeted the Antipodes for first-release for good reason, saying “The dynamics of the residential solar markets in Australia and New Zealand make it one of the most storage-ready regions in the world.”

SA Power Networks will be conducting distributed residential energy storage trials for the Enphase Storage System to provide insights into how energy storage can help utilities improve load management and develop business models for residential battery storage.

The time has come IN LATE OCTOBER the Energy Storage Council released the Global Energy Storage Market Overview & Regional Summary Report to all ESC Members.

The report shows that it is a fascinating time for energy storage, with several big trends driving the growth of the energy storage market here and around the world.

These include: • Electric Vehicles (EVs) Time has Come – subsidies for EVs in China (which has a target to produce 10 million EVs by 2020 alone), and a rapidly growing global market is fueling a massive scaling up of battery manufacturing.

• Costs are Falling Rapidly – economies of scale are leading to rapid decreases in the cost of battery technology (a spin-off benefit for other applications).

• Micro-Grids Becoming Economic – as grid infrastructure costs climb, and areas that do not have grid access are electrified, micro-grids supported by distributed energy generation and energy storage are becoming the rational economic choice.

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has estimated the world would need 150 GW of battery storage by 2030.

And there are immediate market opportunities in places like Australia, linked to solar PV, and in edge of grid, micro-grid and off grid applications.

In off grid applications alone, the Australian market is forecast to grow to 1 GW of installed storage capacity.

We are also seeing the first energy storage support programs, with Adelaide City Council launching a subsidy program to reduce the up front cost of battery installation.

In manufacturing globally Japanese giants Toshiba and Panasonic are vying with South Korean conglomerates Samsung and LG for leadership in

“No matter how you look at it, technology, economics and government policy are coming together to unleash a new force in global electricity in the form of the global energy storage market … it is bound to have profound effects on the nature and operation of grids worldwide.”

the fast-growing battery energy storage market for power generated from renewable sources such as solar and wind.

Contenders line up Other contenders in energy storage such as Nissan’s AESC, Mitsubishi’s joint venture partner GS Yuasa and Chinese maker BYD (with Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway group as a key shareholder), are concentrating on the market for battery-powered electric vehicles.

No matter how you look at it, technology, economics and government policy are coming together to unleash a new force in global electricity in the form of the global energy storage market.

Some commentators are describing this as the fourth leg of the electricity system.

Regardless it is bound to have profound effects on the nature and operation of grids worldwide.

Technologies and targets The report also examines the various technologies, their current costs and price projections in detail, as well as key markets in detail.

For instance, did you know that in 2015 220 MW of energy storage is projected to be installed in the US, and California alone has a 1.3 GW target by 2020?

Last year China had a cumulative 84.4 MW of energy storage installed, and Government policy is creating an environment for significant market growth.

China is also on track to produce 10 million electric vehicles domestically in the next four and a half years.

With strong subsidies, Japan’s goal is to produce half of the world’s batteries by 2020.

Japan is also innovating with the world’s only sea-water pumped hydro installation.

And how about this for a key market opportunity – in India approximately 70 per cent of the 400,000 installed telecommunications towers lose power each day.

This introductory report on the global energy storage industry was prepared in collaboration with major international organisations and experts including the Australian Energy Storage Council, California Energy Storage Alliance, China Energy Storage Alliance, DNV GL, India Energy Storage Alliance and the National Electrical Communications Association.

For a copy of the full report, and to stay up to date on the market, technology, applications and economics, join the Australian Energy Storage Council today by contacting Lorrae Ingham at lorrae@energystorage.org.au This article also featured on the PV-Tech Storage blog which is read by thousands of subscribers worldwide.

Solar & Storage | 25

Watt’s it all about AllGrid Energy – a proudly Indigenous owned renewable technology company – recently launched its domestic hybrid storage system WattGrid which is stage one of a grand plan to couple sustainable living with indigenous enterprise.

EARLY SEPTEMBER saw the materialisation of an indigenous collaboration with the release of the AllGrid Energy hybrid inverter and storage system WattGrid.

In a nutshell: the bi-directional hybrid inverter complies to AS4777 standards and has Uninterrupted Power Supply functionality, zero export control, dual MPPT, load sharing, time of use programming and remote monitoring, and the system uses OPzV Gel batteries which come with “proven cycle life in isolated regions“.

With the average family home clocking up 24 kWh each day, AllGrid estimates a 4 kW solar system linked to WattGrid will save up to 17 kWh, with 10 kW exported to WattGrid and the remaining 2 kW per hour used by the house during solar generation hours. WattGrid then supplies the house with electricity through the late afternoon and evening enabling users their “very own Personal Renewable Energy Target (P-RET)”. Neat!

In October AllGrid created a self-funding model that will pay a $0.20 feed-in tariff – four times the average for 2016. Their ‘Wattshappening’ app provides users real time information and interaction and a daily report of the P-RET achieved.

WattGrid parts are made overseas and systems assembled in Brisbane.

Home grown advantage “The WattGrid is our entry into the domestic market, we hope that as a home grown product we can secure a significant part of the market, and are anticipating [down the track] the commercial market will be a great one for us particularly with our innovative community investment funding model for the supply of PortaGrid off-grid systems through Power Purchase Agreement models,” Marketing Manager Deborah Oberon told Solar & Storage. “Energy poverty is a common experience for Indigenous people [and] we are committed to developing funding models to assist Indigenous communities to alleviate energy stress and facilitate greater energy freedom.

“The release of the WattGrid storage system into the domestic market as an Indigenous product is unprecedented in modern Australian history … it represents the fusion of our deep and long standing respect for the Earth’s precious resources with a modern technology which will enable us to harness those resources sustainably. Integral to our business model

AllGrid Energy CEO Raymond Pratt is a commitment to establishing links and networks with Indigenous communities.”

Enterprise and Indigenous alliances AllGrid Energy was forged between Consolidated Industrial Holdings (Director, Dean Stehling) and Indigenous owned electrical contracting company DICE (Dedicated to Indigenous Communities and Employment) Australia founded by Raymond Pratt in a dual bid to advance Indigenous entrepreneurship.

Ray Pratt points out “DICE Australia has a long history of successful community engagement, and commitment to Indigenous traineeships and employment opportunities. AllGrid Energy will be able to dovetail neatly into networks we have already established to support and enhance the good work we are already doing in this area. One method of facilitating community engagement and “buy-in” in renewable technology projects will be the training of local people to maintain and install our systems. We want to support people to achieve fully actualised lives and we know that supporting the establishment of local Indigenous businesses will lead to more Indigenous employment.”

Still under wraps Three more AllGrid Energy technologies are under development: WattGrid 12 – a 12 kWh domestic hybrid storage system, geared at grid-connected people who want to install solar or maximise existing system to optimise energy generation. The system can also be modified for off-grid storage for remote residential.

PortaGrid for remote and regional areas, off-grid, disaster zones, emergency power back-up in remote hospitals; with an ability to be manufactured in different sizes it can be used to power entire housing estates.

BioGrid the biogas generator that creates pressurised LPG from organic material for use on cooking stoves and for heating water.

AllGrid is also developing technology recycling programs for communities in developing countries and re-purposing and donating older replaced inverters and solar panels to communities in need.

26 | ISSUE 4 • 2015

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Storage snapshot In late October the Climate Council released its report: Powerful potential: Battery Storage for renewable energy and electric cars. Following are some of the key findings and statistics which depict the dynamic nature of the sector that will continue to soar.

“Australia is expected to be one of the largest markets for battery storage due to the high cost of electricity, the large number of households with solar panels and Australia’s excellent solar resources.”

Speed of growth Battery storage capacity is expected to grow 50-fold in less than a decade.

Battery costs have fallen by 14 per cent on average every year between 2007 and 2014; more dramatic cost reductions for lithium ion batteries are expected as several companies rapidly scale up production. The rapidly falling cost of batteries is expected to make electric cars cost-competitive with conventional cars within 20 years, leading to much greater uptake.

Australia’s massive potential Battery storage in ‘behind-the-meter’ applications (such as paired with residential or commercial solar PV) is expected to undergo a similar rapid expansion to solar PV, which grew 100-fold in capacity from 39 MW in 2008 to 4 GW in 2014. Half of all households in Australia are predicted to adopt solar systems with battery storage on the basis of a $10,000 battery system with a payback of 10 years, with the market potentially growing to $24 billion.

Battery storage can reduce household electricity costs Adding a 4 kWh battery to a 5 kWh solar system can increase the amount of self-generated solar electricity a household consumes from 30 to 60 per cent. By 2018, going off-grid by installing battery storage could be cost-competitive with staying connected as the price of battery storage falls and grid electricity remains expensive.

As feed-in tariffs are phased out and households receive far less for the solar electricity they put into the grid and electricity prices remain

high (particularly at peak times), solar PV systems with added battery storage will become the most economical electricity solution.

Battery storage will reduce energy costs and boost reliance on renewable energy for vast areas of Australia not connected to the grid and otherwise reliant on costly imported fuels.

Battery storage technology and the cost of electricity bills Ergon Energy estimates battery storage deployed at grid level could avoid costs associated with building and upgrading the network, potentially reducing costs by 35 per cent. Battery storage can also reduce the cost of energy, by providing retailers with an alternative, more cost-effective means of meeting peak demand than purchasing power from expensive gas “peaking plants”.

More numbers and forecasts Today and tomorrow Currently there are about 500 residential battery storage and solar power systems installed across Australia Large-scale battery storage capacity is around 0.5 GW (comprising 70 MW lead acid, 100 MW lithium ion, 27 MW nickel cadmium, 304 MW sodium sulphur).

The most relevant, and highest value opportunities for battery storage are ‘Behind-the-meter’ applications such as for households and businesses together with rooftop solar; and Off-grid areas (remote locations) and on the fringes of electricity grids where the costs of backup power from connecting to the grid or by importing diesel and LPG are high.

Paybacks The current payback period for battery systems and solar PV is estimated between 6 and 12 years in NSW. A 5 to 8 kWh battery system would pay for itself in less than 12 years if electricity prices stay at current levels If battery system prices continue to fall as expected, the payback is expected to drop to 8 years in 2020 and 6 years in 2030.

Morgan Stanley estimates half of all households in Australia would adopt solar systems with battery storage on the basis of a $10,000 battery system (based on a Tesla 7 kWh daily cycle battery) with a payback of 10 years, with the market potentially growing to $24 billion.

Globally speaking The market for solar PV panels and battery storage is expected to grow tenfold in less than five years – from 90 MW in 2014 to 900 MW in 2018. www.climatecouncil.org.au

Compacting storage Little Box Challenge More than 100 teams participated in a Google and the IEEE Power Electronics Society NREL competition to reduce inverter size. The competition closed at the end of October with 18 finalists vying for the $1 million prize for a developing a residential-scale inverter with the highest power density: minimum 50 watts per cubic inch.

Google wants to see the technology shrink tenfold to the size of a small laptop computer.

ESC President Steve Blume commented: “Interesting work, but I believe it reflects an academic approach in a relatively mature commercial inverter market.

“With exceptionally strong competition from inverter manufacturers they will drive any size reduction needed themselves, and have the knowledge and capacity to do so, but only if there is some market indicator that tells them the decrease in size is important - for utility or commercial scale it could be if the cost if the space was high; and the costs are small enough and the margins high enough on the smaller size to go in that direction.”

He further explained: “Like all size reductions and solid state devices handling of heat is a big factor - the size of the box has a lot to do with airflow not just the size of the components inside. There is also the constraining factor of the physical size of the cabling and connectors and that is down to the current being carried. For home systems the size of the inverter box is unlikely to be a major constraint, but the cost of the inverter and balance of systems costs would be.

“A bigger question in the long run might be the AC vs DC argument; continuing from Tesla vs Edison more than 100 years ago, for many applications why use an inverter at all eg DC is already used to heat hot water and for computers, EVs and many other motors and devices.”

Shrinking batteries

The Economics of battery Energy Storage A Rocky Mountains Institute report into the economics of battery storage found that energy storage can provide thirteen fundamental electricity services for three major stakeholder groups customers, utilities, or independent system operators/regional transmission organisations; and that the further downstream battery-based energy storage systems are located on the electricity system, the more services they can offer to the system at large.

RMI also found that energy storage can generate much more value when multiple, stacked services are provided by the same device or fleet of devices but the net value of behind-the-meter energy storage to the electricity system is difficult to generalise because under prevailing cost structures, batteries deployed for only a single primary service generally do not provide a net economic benefit but given that the delivery of primary services only takes 1–50 per cent of a battery’s lifetime capacity, using the remainder of the capacity to deliver a stack of services to customers and the grid shifts the economics in favour of storage.

Unsurprisingly, RMI suggests distributed energy resources such as behind-the-meter battery energy storage have matured faster than the rates, regulations, and utility business models needed to support them as core components of the future grid. The executive summary stated “Even though behind-the-meter energy storage systems have the potential to economically provide multiple, stacked benefits to all stakeholder groups in the electricity system, many barriers largely prevent them from doing so” and outlined the steps necessary for behind-the-meter energy storage to provide maximum benefits to the grid. www.rmi.org/electricity_battery_value

A team at Waterloo University in Canada has created a low-cost battery using silicon that boosts the performance and life of lithium ion batteries. Their silicon anode materials allegedly have a far greater capacity for lithium and are capable of producing batteries with almost 10 times more energy. This promises a 40 to 60 per cent increase in energy density which could enable an electric car to be driven up to 500 kilometres between charges while significantly reducing the overall weight of vehicles. Current lithium ion batteries normally use graphite anodes.

Image of Weipa Solar Farm Courtesy of ARENA

Going hybrid Going off-grid may not be for everyone; a better route may be to ‘go hybrid’, by adding batteries to grid-connected solar. Andrew Reddaway explores the options.

Storage systems, such as the Bosch Power Tec BPT-S5 Hybrid, look more like appliances than battery systems

THE SOLAR BATTERY INDUSTRY is on the verge of disruptive change.

Traditionally, large batteries were only seen in houses at off-grid locations such as Moora Moora east of Melbourne.

For off-grid systems, reliability is crucial; failure prompts an emergency call to the solar installer, so such systems have been designed conservatively using proven lead-acid batteries.

Meanwhile, in towns and cities, grid-connected solar systems have gone mainstream. As feed-in tariffs for solar export have dropped far below the rates paid for grid electricity, householders are looking for ways to cut bills by making better use of their excess solar generation. One answer is to add batteries to create a hybrid system: a grid- connected solar system with batteries either for backup or load-shifting.

This article gives an overview of current hybrid technology and the options available for adding batteries to an existing grid- connected solar system.

Different batteries for hybrid A hybrid solar system is tough on batteries. Unlike an off-grid system that may store enough energy to last multiple days, a hybrid system’s entire usable capacity will be charged and discharged daily. This requires a battery that can handle fast discharge rates at high levels of efficiency.

Lithium batteries fit the bill, and have already become dominant in consumer electronics, power tools and electric cars. Compared to leadacid, they are also smaller, lighter, don’t require monthly maintenance and don’t emit hydrogen gas. The only things holding them back in the solar market are unfamiliarity and price.

The lithium Powerwall battery from Tesla is priced well below previous products and has a 10-year warranty. Traditional lead-acid batteries cannot compete with this new benchmark, so it’s expected that systems will start

to move away from them. Hybrid systems are now expected to become viable on pure economics in a few years or less. Early adopters are already installing lithium hybrid systems, as are some who value maintaining power during a blackout.

Option 1: Solar buffer battery So how can a battery be added to an existing grid-connected system?

The simplest concept is to connect it between the panels and the gridinteractive solar inverter, most likely wall-mounted next to the inverter.

From a string of panels, current flows at, say, 400 VDC into the battery during the day. The voltage is regulated to the internal battery voltage, say 500 V. At night, DC current flows from the battery to the inverter and then to the house switchboard at 230 VAC. The inverter doesn’t even know that a battery is present—as far as it’s concerned the solar panels are still generating!

To work as a proper solar buffer, a sensor at the switchboard is also required. When the house is starting to import electricity from the grid the battery should discharge, and when the house is starting to export the battery should charge.

Options 1, 2 and 3 for adding storage to an existing grid-connected solar system. The orange box is the existing grid-interactive inverter. In option 1, the batteries (green) are added between the solar panels and the inverter. In options 2 and 3, no changes are required to the wiring of the grid-interactive inverter; instead, a new circuit is added to the switchboard: In option 2, this connects the batteries (green) and a new inverter/charger (blue); in option 3, an all-in-one system (including batteries and inverter/ charger in a fridge-sized box) is connected. Depending on the component housing, all these additions may require protection from the weather and ventilation.

Options 1, 2 and 3 for adding storage to an existing grid-connected solar system. The orange box is the existing grid-interactive inverter. In option 1, the batteries (green) are added between the solar panels and the inverter. In options 2 and 3, no changes are required to the wiring of the grid-interactive inverter; instead, a new circuit is added to the switchboard: In option 2, this connects the batteries (green) and a new inverter/charger (blue); in option 3, an all-in-one system (including batteries and inverter/charger in a fridge-sized box) is connected. Depending on the component housing, all these additions may require protection from the weather and ventilation.

30 | ISSUE 4 • 2015

The advantage of this approach is that no new conversions from AC to DC are introduced. Costs are minimised as additional inverters aren’t

Solar PV hybrid training course at Moora Moora

required, and efficiency is high. However, blackout backup may not be available, as a typical grid-interactive inverter shuts down when the grid is not present. An issue to check is whether the battery will interfere with the inverter’s maximum power point tracker (MPPT). Also, how does panel generation bypass the battery when it’s full? If the battery has a lower power rating than the total solar array, will the panel output be clipped?

It appears at least one of the Tesla Powerwall systems is designed to be installed this way (as far as the currently available specs imply, as of early May 2015). Another yet-to-be-deployed product is the Australian Sunsink.

Option 2: AC-coupled inverter-charger An alternative approach is to keep the battery separate from the existing grid-interactive inverter and wire it to the house switchboard. As the switchboard runs at 230 VAC, this is called an AC-coupled system.

Batteries are DC, so an inverter-charger is required near the battery. The battery’s nominal voltage is likely to be 24 V or 48 VDC. One advantage of this method is that blackout protection can be provided by the inverter-charger. When the grid goes down, a high-quality hybrid system will step in so fast that house appliances are not disturbed by the changeover. As far as the grid-interactive inverter is concerned a blackout never occurred, so panels can keep generating. Appliances can be powered by the total output of both the inverter-charger and the gridinteractive inverter (if the sun is shining).

To conserve the battery during a blackout, it is possible to switch off some high-usage household circuits such as the oven, air conditioner and pool pump. A petrol or diesel generator is relatively easy to add, with startup controlled by the inverter-charger. A good AC-coupled hybrid system has all the features to disconnect from the mains and go off-grid!

However it may be under-sized to run the whole house full-time.

Additional strategies can be used to use the battery with such a system.

For example those with cheap grid electricity in the middle of the night could use it to charge the battery to cover a morning consumption peak.

Another benefit of this method is that the existing solar system is not disturbed, avoiding potential remediation work where standards have changed since the original solar installation.

The main drawback of this approach is the cost of the smart invertercharger. Also, electricity that goes through the battery requires an additional conversion from AC to DC and back again, reducing efficiency.

Check how the hybrid system regulates power from the solar panels during a blackout. Some inverter-chargers can communicate with the grid-interactive inverter, throttling its output when the battery approaches capacity. However, this feature may only be available with compatible models of grid-interactive inverter. If this is not possible, the system may not handle a large solar array.

For those installing a grid-connect solar system now and considering adding batteries later, it’s worth checking whether the inverter can communicate with any hybrid inverter-chargers.

There are many examples of AC-coupled inverter-charger hybrid systems, using, for example, Schneider Conext, SMA Sunny Island and the Australian Selectronic SP-Pro inverter-chargers.

Option 3: Self-contained appliance This option uses an appliance with an inverter-charger in the top and lithium batteries in racks at the bottom, often called an ‘all-in-one Continues on page 46

32 | ISSUE 4 • 2015

Solar PV hybrid training course Earlier this year Andrew Reddaway attended the Australian Solar Council’s Solar PV Hybrid Training course. Below is a student’s perspective as a guide to others considering this course.

Four days from 9 am to 5 pm were split between classroom lessons, hands-on exercises and special activities. No prior experience was required—attending with me were a mix of solar installers broadening their service offering, utility employees, university students and specialists in renewables and energy efficiency.

Classes were comprehensive, detailing the entire workings of a solar electricity system from the photovoltaic cells to calculating how much battery capacity is required for an off-grid house, to rule-of-thumb cost estimates. Concepts were illustrated with real-life examples, including common pitfalls such as poor planning, unrealistic expectations and commercial pressures.

Glen Morris’s teaching style was engaging and relaxed. Participant questions frequently sparked lively discussion among the whole group, giving useful insights into broader issues such as the electricity ‘death spiral’. As a long-term off-grid solar installer, trainer and vicepresident of the Australian Solar Council, Glen’s depth of knowledge is outstanding. Outside class, we had many opportunities to pick his brains about specific issues. A solar installer who lives at Moora Moora assisted Glen, and an equipment manufacturer also gave a presentation.

Most hands-on exercises were held in a shed kitted out with solar panels, a wind turbine and a range of off-grid equipment. DC voltages were kept low, enabling all participants to join in safely. Working in a few groups, Glen assigned us tasks culminating in a small, off-grid solar system. Just like chefs in a kitchen, competition for tools was sometimes evident! Participants with electrical qualifications were given tasks in an operational equipment room that supplies electricity at 230 V to a group of buildings. The gear in this room was impressive— manufacturers often supply Glen with new models for testing.

Other exercises included using devices to calculate the shade cast by a tree at different times of the year. We also toured the facilities at nearby inverter manufacturer Selectronic.

The course is held at Moora Moora Cooperative, an off-grid community located on Mount Toolebewong near Healesville, 70 km from Melbourne.

One afternoon we toured some of the houses (including Glen’s) to check out their off-grid systems. We saw a broad variety of approaches including micro-hydro, defunct wind turbines, passive solar, solar hot water and mini-grids servicing multiple houses.

Most course participants took advantage of the included accommodation: backpacker-style bunkrooms upstairs in the wellheated farmhouse. One stayed at a B&B in Healesville. A highlight of the week was the food; three meals plus morning and afternoon tea expertly cooked by a chef who lives in the community.

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Empowering consumers

Go getter, GO energy Group GO energy which has forged a series of strategic partnerships to bring clean energy to the market is now poised to deliver storage solutions.

Left to right: Solar Council CEO John Grimes, Adam Pearse and Emile Abdurahman of GO energy, comedian Vince Sorrenti, Phil Livingston of Redback and Claude Picinalli of Solar+Solutions GO ENERGY IS ON A CLEAN ENERGY MISSION, and bringing that to fruition involves sealing deals with like-minded partners that enable customers to tap into available technologies. In recent weeks the company has fast tracked ambitions for major expansion of the customer base as well as storage solutions.

As CEO Adam Pearse likes to describe it, the primary function of GO energy is a clean tech energy retailer; one that initially assumes control of customers’ power bills and subsequently installs energy efficient products, in turn offering a full energy solution.

“We start selling people black energy which is fossil fuel derived, which goes against the grain of our business but as clean energy products become more financially viable we encourage customers to take them up,” Pearse told Solar & Storage.

“To take on the utilities you have to become a utility yourself. The way we operate down the track is to look at contracts for renewables and energy storage, LED lighting, power quality and then going to our partners saying we want you to put together a solution for the customer. We then package certain products for them and the most prominent for business

customers is solar PV whereby we own the systems and manage it via our Power Plant Agreement.

“Many people want to buy solar energy systems but don’t necessarily have the capital or approval process within the organisation to take on finance. Our PPAs are the enabling factor for many to take up solar,” Pearse said.

Solar+Solutions which is part of the electrical wholesaler giant Lawrence and Hanson (L&H) is a key partner. The strategic alliance includes cobranding GO energy products and services via L&H’s distribution capability to 30,000 L&H customers and an agreement for GO energy to install 1.1 MW in Solar PPAs on 45 L&H sites. The roll-out is now underway.

End game “Whatever excess energy is generated by systems can go into storage – that is the journey we are embarking on going forward,” Pearse explained in direct reference to a proposed commercial partnership with Redback Technologies to develop a range of battery storage products and services which would include its recently launched smart hybrid inverter that is tipped to accelerate the uptake of storage.

Clubs, pubs and supermarkets October 1 marked the commencement of a retail electricity agreement with supermarket chain Aldi for all 179 stores in NSW; Aldi has already kicked off its initial pilot project for solar at a store in northern NSW. Numerous pubs and clubs have signed Solar PPAs. “Many regional clubs have strong assets … we provide efficient energy solutions where they don’t have to use their own capital,” Adam Pearse explained. “In that way we really have won their hearts … especially when it costs no more (than grid electricity) but less to outsource the service.”

34 | ISSUE 4 • 2015

“Our goal is to one day take people off the grid by owning the onsite generation and battery storage and all available technologies.

“We’ll be there at the forefront of storage developments – and that is why we are a big supporter of Redback.” www.goenergy.com.au GO energy and CO2markets are 100% wholly-owned subsidiaries of Solco Limited (ASX: SOO). Following its merger with GO energy Group, Solco was re-listed on the ASX in August 2015.

CO2markets is the STC trading platform.

Customer focus

Five things customers expect that most solar installers don’t offer Since 2009 Finn Peacock’s company SolarQuotes has interacted with more than 250,000 Aussies who are researching and buying solar. Unlike most online companies, Finn actively encourages users to interact with them by phone, Facebook and email. The SolarQuotes team strives to respond to every single query, equipping them with unique perspectives into the desires and frustrations of the solar buying Australian public. Here Finn Peacock shares the five most common frustrations of customers in their quest to buy a quality solar system. #1 Customers don’t want to buy solar. They want to buy a $0 bill There is a saying in marketing: ‘No one buys a drill. They buy a hole.’

Back in 2008 when a 1 kW system cost $10,000, this did not apply to the average solar buyer. Those crazy early adopters (God bless ‘em) wanted solar because they wanted solar for solar’s sake. Payback was not an issue.

They just wanted some of those damn sexy panels on the roof!

Those days are long gone. Today 99 per cent of customers want their bills to go away first and foremost. The feel-good factor comes a distant second.

While the low Feed-in tariffs make a $0 bill hard to achieve, lower bills are totally feasible – and that is what your customers really want.

Andy Huntley of Denmark Solar and Renewable Energy, installing a 4 kW stand alone power system in William Bay near Denmark, WA

So don’t start your proposal with a big scary price. Start it with the benefit. The first page of every proposal should show the customer’s bills before and after solar.

Project their gross and net savings over 10 and 20 years. Make it absolutely clear that the net figures show that they are losing money every day that they don’t have solar. By the time they get to the costs, they should be totally convinced that solar is a no-brainer. And urgent.

And make it easy to buy! If they need finance, don’t just offer the ‘nointerest-ever’ options that whack 20-25 per cent onto your price to cover the finance. Do your homework. Put in the hard yards for your customer.

There are personal loans available at very low interest rates that can deliver a much better overall deal for your customer. They will result in better cashflow and faster payback than the mainstream finance options.

Liam and Stacey on the roof of Heritage Kitchens installing a 15 kW system

IMAGE COURTESY OF JOHN MARTIN OF SOLAR WEST IN BATHURST, NSW

(And if their usage patterns or solar aspect is such that their payback is not compelling – don’t give up! This is a customer with a problem (high bills) that you or a partner business can at least partly solve without solar.

Refer them to a good energy efficiency expert who can return the favour when one of their other clients needs solar.)

retailer’s rates allow the customer to save even more, thanks to your advice.

#4 They want rock solid guarantees of their savings

#2 After they buy solar no one explicitly calculates their savings, so they don’t realise just how much better off they are with solar

Want to differentiate yourself from the mob on TV who stacks ‘em high

Your best marketing is word-of-mouth advertising. If every lead you

(assuming their consumption patterns don’t change – you did install five

convert recommends three friends, your business will grow exponentially

minute usage monitoring as part of the install right?).

and effortlessly. So do not forget about your customer once their system is installed!

I ask every layperson I meet who has solar on a non-premium FiT

and sells ‘em low?

Then guarantee what the el-cheapo installers won’t. Guarantee how many kWh they’ll generate over 12 months. Guarantee their savings

As a business mentor once told me “If your hand isn’t quivering when you write the guarantee, it’s not ballsy enough!”

You know your systems are good. You know how to calculate

how much it is saving them. No one can answer me accurately because

performance and savings. Put them in writing, and advise the customer

no one has ever worked it out for them. Or worse – they are massively

to ask the cheap and cheerful mob to do the same. Watch the cheap and

underestimating the benefit.

cheerful mob run for the hills.

Encourage your customers to send you their post-solar bills for the next four quarters (one for each season). Analyse each bill and send it back to them showing exactly how big their savings are with solar.

It is very common for a layperson to look at their post solar bill, and believe their only benefit is the ‘solar FiT’ line item. Which, at 5c or so per kWh is pitiful!

Train your office manager to crunch the numbers and show how much has been saved with self-consumption and add that to the customer’s FiT savings. Create an Excel macro to create a super impressive payback/savings report in three short clicks. Then send back the report showing what a great investment this is turning out to be and that your projections were accurate and honest. And don’t forget to incentivise them to share the good news with their non-solar friends.

Also use the report to explain how batteries or solar hot water or efficiency upgrades can further reduce their bills.

#5 They want love and respect - even if their purchase is 18 months away!

The customers who spend the most and want the best quality systems are generally the folk that are building their dream home. They have the dream, they have the budget and the finance in place and they can see themselves in their new home for decades. Long-term performance and quality is important to them.

Unfortunately these people also tend to get quotes early on in the project. For example when I was building my house, I got my solar quotes two years before I was ready to install. But I budgeted for and bought top of the range PV and solar hot water. I spent $20,000 with the company that took the time to quote – almost two years after they quoted.

Unfortunately the vast majority of solar companies I deal with refuse to even quote people whose home is in the planning stages!

What message is this giving the home-building customer that wants

#3 They want guidance on switching retailers

to make sure solar is designed-in from the outset? Maybe it tells them

As part of your quote show customers how they can save even more by

months? Not exactly inspiring confidence in our fledgling industry…

that much of the solar industry isn’t prepared to look past the next three

switching retailers. Mozo.com.au now has a tool that compares pretty

If a customer comes to you and asks for a quote for a project that is 12-

much every retailer on the market. It is not perfect because it does not

24 months away, take him seriously. Give him all the information he needs.

include FiT rates. But it is a five-minute job to go through the results and

Give him a pre-prepared “how to pre-wire your home for solar, monitoring,

adjust them for solar exports so that you can genuinely recommend the

batteries and EV charging” report. Then stay in touch every three months

best retailer for customers’ newly solarised homes.

until he’s ready to buy. Because when he is ready to buy you’ll be the only

Be totally independent – recommend the best deal for your customer

one who has kept in touch. And the house will be pre-wired to the specs

no matter who it turns out to be with. If it so happens that the best

you gave him. Your company will be the only one he considers when his

deal also offers a ‘finder’s fee’ from the retailer then take advantage of

roof is finally in place and ready for panels.

that. Otherwise just bathe in the Karma, and enjoy the fact that the new

www.solarquotes.com.au

Solar & Storage | 37

Installers on show

The first stage (40 Kw) of 100 kW system at the Darwin Aqua Culture Centre for the NT Government

ROOFTOPS at the Top End Solar & Storage takes a look at a couple of PV systems installed in the top end of the nation.

FIRST TO PAUL SHELLEY OF PSE COMMUNICATION & ELECTRICAL who operates offices at opposite ends of the country: one in northern Victoria and the other in the Northern Territory where they opened an office in Darwin five years ago and which houses the three full-time staff.

The images on this page were taken at Darwin’s Aqua Culture Centre in a job underway for the NT Government. Stage one at the Centre is a 100 kW solar array and stage two, which recently kicked off, is 68 kW. Given the location, the choice of equipment is made according to its ability to withstand local conditions which include high levels of humidity and the odd cyclone.

Independently cyclone rated Paul Shelley selected ReneSola panels which gained the tick of approval after undergoing an independent cyclone test conducted

by James Cook University over a four week period. Clenergy racks which are affixed to the roof have also been deemed able to withstand the force of cyclones.

Also included in the system are SMA inverters due to their performance characteristics, reliability and warranty provisions. Paul also revealed that they were using a stand-alone (internal network) solar reporting system designed by CarbonetiX, the Victorian based carbon and energy management consultancy.

Three Magellan controllers complete the picture. Perth based innovator Magellan’s Power Solar Gate (MPSG) controls and prevents solar power from flowing into the grid to ensure all generated solar power is available for the local load. This is achieved by monitoring the exact power requirement of the connected load and commanding solar inverters to produce the precise amount of power to satisfy the load.

There is zero export to the grid from the Aqua Culture Centre.

“All up not a bad install for a small business based in Rutherglen,” says Paul, who also secured a maintenance contract on solar systems at 120 schools across the Northern Territory as far afield as the Islands and the borders of Western Australia and Queensland.

“One year ago a cyclone hit the Darwin area but the only damage sustained was caused by debris – fallen trees and the like – the rooftop arrays actually withstood the force of the storm,” Paul said. “Other than cyclones, humidity and high temperatures are the main challenges.

“Taking our business to the Northern Territory presented an opportunity for our small regional based office to expand,” Paul told Solar & Storage magazine. “We could have tried moving into the solar market in Melbourne or Sydney but figured the population growth in the Territory would work in our favour. It also gives us access to Asian markets which we may one day move into. We are still establishing ourselves in the NT and gaining expertise in that sort of climate and area.”

Currently 40 per cent of PSE Communication & Electrical business derives from NT but that is the faster moving market. www.p-s-e.com.au

Installers Scott Cullem and Manolo (“Manny”) De Lavora did not require harnesses as there is a two-metre roof edge exclusion zone as per NT regulations.

A 6 Kw AC coupled diesel hybrid system in the Northern Territory featuring the Selectronic SP Pro 481

Current requirements MARK SCHILD OF PHOTON SOLAR whose tagline is ‘Using nature’s energy to power you’ has carried out several installations in remote regions.

The system on the house featured in the image is in a demountable position facing true north to allow maximum benefit and installed on tilt frames.

Tech specs: 6.0 KwP of Trina 250 Watt modules 1x Kaco 6002 Inverter 1 x Selectronic SP PRO SPMC481 1 x 6.5 KvA generator, and Sungel 1000 Ah 48V battery According to Mark the system was designed to give the client plenty of excess energy for his current requirements, which were in the region of 9-kilowatt hours per day.

“We have since installed a Panasonic 7.0 kW split system air conditioner for the living area and a 3.5 kW system in the bedroom. The client manages the system well and uses the air conditioners to maintain a comfortable climate in the extremes of summer heat, with minimal if no generator run-time unless there is significant cloud coverage. They are also running a small 80-litre electric hot water service which is managed by the client,” he explained.

“The challenges facing our hot climate require a suitable solar module with a low temperature co-efficient. We have used Trina solar for many of our installations for this reason … they give excellent output in the extremes of central Australia.”

In the absence of local suppliers all equipment is freighted in - at significant cost - from all parts of Australia including Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth.

Mark believes that the Kaco and Selectronic SP Pro combination is “the best that you could have. Both are built to withstand the extremes of temperature, from 45 degrees in the shade in mid-summer to minus 8 degrees overnight in mid-winter. This equipment really performs when the going gets tough.”

It’s been more than a year since the system was installed and the client appears more than happy with his system.

In late October Mark travelled to Mintabie in South Australia’s far north to work on another project. With a population of about 300, Mintabie is an opal mining community in South Australia’s Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (“APY” Lands). So remote was the location that the only possible communication with the outside world was via the client’s own 3G service.

“Built to withstand the extremes of temperature, from 45 degrees in the shade in mid-summer to minus 8 degrees overnight in mid-winter.”

Mark Schild of Photon Solar is geared up for work in hot dry regions.

Solar & Storage | 39

Business marketing

The challenge of commercial success Over the past few years we’ve seen commercial solar grow from less than three per cent of the market to almost one quarter of all installed capacity. One thing seems clear: if commercial solar is not in your business plan, you don’t really have much of a business plan, says Luke Konynenburg who presents keys to success.

DESPITE THEIR ENTHUSIASM, many of our clients

on Whirlpool - if they weren’t ready to deal with you,

who are solar installers have experienced difficulty

you wouldn’t have been allowed through the door.

closing commercial sales. It seems that what works

The dynamic between seller and client has changed

reasonably well in residential solar – great product

forever – you need to adapt if you want to survive.

knowledge, friendly service and quality installation – does not get the necessary traction with businesses.

The Challenger

And the research agrees.

As the name suggests, Challengers are not about

In 2008, the Sales Executive Council initiated a study into sales rep productivity in the postGFC world, finding traditional selling methods were increasingly ineffective. Surveying over 6000 representatives, Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson discussed the research outcomes in a series of Harvard Business Review Articles in 2011, delivering one clear message: Solution selling is dead, the time of the Challenger is upon us.

One hundred years ago, there wasn’t much to selling. You had nails to sell, and customers bought nails. Fifty years ago, we started talking about ‘features and benefits’ – crafting our message around

servicing a customer’s stated needs; they’re about challenging their assumptions:

Challengers don’t sell, they teach Anyone can find information, Challengers leverage their experience and bring insight. Their deep knowledge of their field gives them the confidence to anticipate a client’s underlying needs and uncover fresh perspectives. Whatever the outcome, people are always glad they spent time with a Challenger.

galvanising process (feature). Our last two decades

Challengers tailor their message

have been defined by the relationship seller – you

Does a childcare centre have the same decision

don’t tell customers what you have, you ask them

drivers as a service station? Does an accountant view

what they need, and then craft a solution to suit.

a proposal in exactly the same way as a marketing

the longevity of the nails (benefit), not the patented

But today’s customer doesn’t need you like

director? Challengers know one size does not fit all,

they used to. They are well-researched and better

and tailor their sales conversations to businesses and

informed. They’ve visited your website and searched

individuals.

IMAGE COURTESY OF DANIEL RUOSS OF CANADIAN SOLAR. SITE: IKEA RICHMOND, VICTORIA

“Challengers are assertive, secure in their capabilities and able to ‘show their working’ when pressed. They are confident and willing to argue their point, but never aggressive … Whatever the outcome, people are always glad they spent time with a Challenger.”

Challengers take control Challengers are assertive, secure in their capabilities and able to ‘show their working’ when pressed. They are confident and willing to argue their point, but never aggressive. Challengers also understand that clients who are completely relaxed feel no need to change their behaviour. If they don’t identify an urgent problem to solve, they should expect no urgency in the client’s response.

Let’s compare the messaging around a typical solar system sales conversation: The Relationship-Builder

The Challenger

Teach

“Hi. We’ve been in business since 1972, originally offering electrical services to businesses in the region.

Our founder was the first electrician to…”

“Our experience of other businesses in your field shows power costs increasing alarmingly as a proportion of total costs – what steps have you taken to mitigate this?”

Tailor

“What is most important to you about installing a solar system?”

“As a retail business in a busy street, the high visibility of solar reinforces your company’s commitment to the environment whilst insulating you from rising power costs.”

Take control

“I understand your concerns about price, you have to make the best decision for your business.”

“I appreciate there are other providers offering cheaper products, and that’s exactly what they are – cheaper.

Your solar system is a substantial and long term investment – you cannot afford to get this wrong.”

No doubt you are tempted to write this off as another buzzword dreamed up by a bearded academic (your clients feel this same resistance to change when you speak to them). So in true Challenger fashion, let me now make you uncomfortable: How much time have you wasted preparing quotes, tenders and proposals for commercial clients that went nowhere? Time that you could have spent working on your business, being with family or pursuing other opportunities.

If you are tightening up as you read this, back prickling and brow furrowing, you are experiencing the right kind of tension. The kind that makes you want to know more, the kind that makes you re-think your sales process, and the kind that leads to a stronger, more profitable business.

Luke Konynenburg is General Manager of Green Energy Trading. Check some of his posts at greenenergytrading.com.au

References Dixon, M. & Adamson, B. (2011), Selling Is Not About Relationships [online] Harvard Business Review https://hbr.org/2011/09/selling-is-not-about-relatio Dixon, M., Adamson, B. & Toman, N. (2012), The End of Solution Sales [online] Harvard Business Review https://hbr.org/2012/07/the-end-of-solution-sales Sen, S. (2015), The Challenger sale – embedding a Challenger mindset TEC Unlocking 2020 Conference – Oral presentation (29 July, 2015)

Market upswing Are the toughest times behind us? Many seem to think solar sentiment is on the rise.

Guy Freebody of Reed Exhibitions which organises All Energy is well place to comment. He said “There has been a big difference, a boost in the level of positivity by the renewable energy industry and from exhibitors. It’s far better than last year,” he said of All Energy October 2015. “At least 600 square metres bigger this year and more exhibitors have opted for much bigger stands.” Guy also remarked on the fact that many have commented on the change of prime minister.

“The general consensus is there is less of a struggle, that we are back to where we were two years ago. Recent times have been challenging due to lack of certainty. But I’d say that the current turnout presents a strong indication of where we are headed.”

Luke Konynenburg of Green Energy Trading actually runs a Sentiment Index.

“A few things feed into this such as the prices of environmental trading certificates and the one we weigh heavily is LGCs as that looks at large scale projects with a long-term payoff, a lot of investment over a long time,” he explained. “This is very important as they are the first to get skittish.”

Luke says industry reached its lowest ebb during the solar conference in May 2014.

“When you think about what was going on at the time – there was the RET review, Warburton had been appointed and we had a hostile federal government and at that stage we thought it was a very real possibility the small scale [incentives] program would be sidelined and large scale curtailed.”

Luke also mentioned the NSW energy efficiency scheme and threat to VEET in Victoria.

“But then things picked up. There was a Damascus road conversion when Al Gore visited [mid 2014] and the Palmer United Party actively closed off the possibility of a quick end to the RET … the scheme was still under pressure but we knew it was not going to go quietly, without a fight.

“Solar is a key issue for many people … you cannot ignore that within a constituency. That was one of the first and most significant moves. The Save Solar campaign placed it firmly on the agenda; the campaign was instrumental in putting it front and centre. As an industry we have to be very careful and marshal our resources and the Solar Council and Solar Citizens deserve credit for their judicious use of limited resources.”

Luke reeled off recent positives: the tussle over the RET with strong support from the federal opposition, expansion of Office of Environment and Heritage, Victoria’s change of government and positive approach toward renewables. Then a major uptick with Turnbull’s elevation which fast made a “noticeable” difference.

“So we have seen the sentiment quickly pick up. So much so that our Sentiment Index needs to have its assumptions reined in as they are now off the scale!”

Solar & Storage | 41

ASC & ESC Update

What has your CEO been doing?

Here Solar Council and Energy Storage Council CEO John Grimes updates us on some of his activities on behalf of the industry over recent weeks.

SINCE OUR LAST ISSUE we have ushered in our fifth Prime Minister in as many years. We were highly effective in highlighting the policy flaws of the Abbott Government and now want to get down to the serious business of deployment of more solar – more PV and solar hot water systems on rooftops of homes and businesses and large scale solar with storage on the grid.

John Grimes at the Canning Save Solar Forum

I have met with Ministers in Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and the ACT. All are actively pursuing positive solar policies with Queensland having announced its reverse auction of 60 MW which is an impressive 50 per cent increase on its election promise.

We have opened dialogue with the new Turnbull Government and I have met with Minister Hunt’s office. We applaud the new tone and language, but would like to see some solid change, including the removal of the abolition Bills for the Climate Change Authority, the CEFC and ARENA. Back in September I spoke at the Wheeler Centre in an interview alongside Tim Flannery and in front of a large and receptive crowd. I have continued a busy schedule of media calls and interviews pushing the message that our focus is on delivering solar and storage solutions of all types and scales – as that’s what our Members excel at.

Our AGM in September was well attended and saw two new Directors join the Board: Phil Livingston from Redback Technologies and Chris Taylor from Apricus. Both are longstanding and strong supporters of the work of the Solar Council and Energy Storage Council.

Around and about We continue to receive international recognition with an invitation to speak at the energy storage summit in Tokyo, and at a solar and renewables conference in Wuxi, China, both in November, and are called on to address numerous industry events here in Australia.

In other developments, we have instigated a new social media program with a strong consumer focus and would welcome your tweets and feedback as this helps builds momentum.

In late November we will be attending the inaugural meeting of the New Zealand & Pacific Solar & Energy Storage Council (SESC) which we are supporting with a range of services. ASC-ESC President Steve Blume will join their Board and ASC-ESC Treasurer Barbara Elliston will also be a Director.

More about this exciting initiative in the next issue.

Finally, you will note our magazine’s new livery and name change from Solar Progress to Solar & Storage to reflect the changing renewable energy marketplace. I remind you to get in touch with any ideas or contributions you think would have wide appeal. We especially appreciate receiving high-resolution images as they help showcase current and emerging technologies in our fast-paced industry.

42 | ISSUE 4 • 2015

Getting solar and storage To the thousands of Save Solar campaigners out there – take a bow Job done.

Early in September Malcolm Turnbull replaced Tony Abbott – a man with a deep-seated hostility toward renewables – as leader of the Coalition. Turnbull has since steered a subtle yet more promising agenda which alludes to a flourishing environment co-existing with a strong economy.

As relayed by Environment Minister Greg Hunt: “Underpinning our climate change and broader environment policy is the notion that a clean and healthy environment and a strong economy are equally important. They are not mutually exclusive – we do not have to choose one over the other. We can have both.”

Hunt remarked on the profound changes in the way energy is produced, distributed and used as led by renewables, battery storage and energy efficiency, saying Australia’s renewable and emissions reduction policies and focus on innovation support the transformation.

His portfolio now takes in the new Office of Climate Change and Renewables Innovation which oversees the Clean Energy Regulator, Climate Change Authority, CEFC and ARENA, but how this will play out remains to be seen as the future of the latter three is still uncertain.

On arrival at the UN Climate Change talks in Paris Turnbull and Hunt will perhaps reveal more about Australia’s strengthened agenda to harness energy innovation, support renewable energy and cut greenhouse gas emissions.

And a reminder that back in 2010 Malcolm Turnbull wrote: “Climate change is real, it is affecting us now, and it is having a particularly severe impact on Australia. And yet, right now, we have every resource available to us to meet the challenge of climate change except for one: and that is leadership.”

The real turning point may come when the man now at the helm successfully convinces the party’s far right of the imperatives for sustainable living.

4–5 May 2016 Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre

BY THE INDUSTRY… FOR THE INDUSTRY… EE R F O T ND TE T A Solar Energy Exhibition & Conference 2016, the 54th annual Australian Solar Council industry conference and exhibition is a showcase of the people, projects and products that are driving solar and storage to new heights of innovation and excellence.

The Energy Storage Council’s second annual conference will be held alongside Solar Energy, a forum for energy storage industry participants to network, share information and build knowledge.

REGISTRATIONS NOW OPEN ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔

Connect with over 4,000 industry delegates See over 100 expert presentations Exhibition showcasing all the latest products and innovation Attend solar sessions with FREE CPD points And now incorporating Australia’s leading energy storage event!

Proudly presented by

REGISTER NOW at www.solarexpo.com.au

Solar Council events 

Solar Council and Energy

Storage Council Members Updates

Join Solar Council CEO John Grimes for networking drinks and to celebrate the successes of 2015 To celebrate the industry successes of 2015, the Energy Storage Council in partnership with the Australian Solar Council will be presenting a series of early evening networking events across Australia.

This will follow on from an informative energy storage training session in the afternoon. Presented by Supply Partners and a panel of guest industry experts, this training will prepare your business for 2016.

EVENT PROGRAM 3.00pm - E nergy Storage Training Session provided by Supply Partners and product launch by Sungrow.

Practical Solar Hybrid and Off-Grid Training Presented by Glen Morris Learn about and install some of the latest solar hybrid energy storage systems available in Australia. This practical course is open to all and requires no previous training or licensing.

Dates: Tuesday December 15 to Friday December 18, 2015 Where: Moora Moora Co-operative Healesville, Victoria Accommodation and meals included.

5.00pm - E nergy Storage Council & Australian Solar Council Members Update presented by John Grimes, including guest speakers & networking drinks.

Registrants are welcome to come to either or both of the above sessions.

Standard Update Roadshow

WHERE and WHEN:

Presented by Glen Morris

Melbourne - Monday 30 November 2015

This series of workshops will be presented early 2016 and will cover grid connection of energy systems via inverters.

State Netball Hockey Centre, 10 Brens Drive, Parkville Adelaide - Tuesday 1 December 2015 Rydges South Park Adelaide, 1 South Terrace, Adelaide Sydney - Wednesday 2 December 2015 Rydges Sydney Central, 28 Albion Street, Surry Hills Brisbane - Thursday 3 December 2015 Global Change Institute Building, University of Queensland, St Lucia Perth - Friday 19 February 2016 We will be hosting a member update in Perth following our next

SAVE THE DATE: Adelaide - Tuesday 9 February 2016 Melbourne - Wednesday 10 February 2016 Sydney - Thursday 11 February 2016 Gold Coast - Friday 12 February 2016 Perth - Friday 19 February 2016 The Solar Council would like to thank the sponsors who make this event possible

workshop tour. Registrations for this event will be opened shortly.

REGISTRATION: Member: $33 inc GST Non-members: $66 inc GST The Solar Council would like to thank the sponsors who make this event possible

For more information or to register for any of these events please visit: http://solar.org.au/events/ 44 | ISSUE 4 • 2015

Solar Council Corporate Members For full listing of Solar Council Corporate Members see www.solar.org.au

Diamond Members Greenbank Environmental

Silver Corporate Members

Hareon Solar Technology Co, Ltd

Alternergy Power Systems Australia Pty Ltd

DNV.GL Garrad Hansan Pacific

CO2markets

Enphase Energy Inc

ReneSola

Rheem Australia

Solar Depot Pty Ltd

®

EnviroGroup Solar Freedom Australia Pty Ltd

Gold Corporate Members Green Energy Trading

ABB Pty Ltd

GO energy

Shanghai JA Solar PV Technology Co Ltd

Solargain PV Pty Ltd HID Europe

Apricus Australia Pty Ltd

Jim Chisholm Consulting

ASM Money

Power Saving Centre Canberra

Australian Ethical Investments

Risen Energy (Australia) Pty Ltd

Solar World WA

Infinity Solar

Solari Energy Pty Ltd

L&H Solar+Solutions

SunEdison

LG Electronics Australia Pty Ltd

SunPower Corporation Australia

Suntech

Trina Solar (Australia) Pty Ltd

R F Industries Pty Ltd True Value Solar

Continued from page 32 system’. Installation is simple – wheel it in, set it on the floor and

competing for a small pool of early adopters and it’s not yet clear

wire it into the switchboard. The solar array may connect directly

which will become mainstream.

via a DC cable (DC coupled) or via a grid-interactive inverter (AC

When adding batteries to an existing solar system, Option 1 is

coupled).

likely to be most popular due to relatively low equipment costs.

Ideally, battery capacity is expandable so you can start with a

For new hybrid installations Option 3 will perhaps dominate

small capacity to minimise costs, see the effect on your bill and

as it requires only a single device beyond the panels, reducing

add additional cells as desired. If you move house, you can take

installation costs. Hopefully battery systems will settle on standard

it with you! Downsides to this option are cost, and finding a

sizes as other home appliances have. A fridge shape seems optimal

suitable place for the system. Examples include the Solari Energy

where space can be found in the garage or house; perhaps such

SolaGRID and Bosch BPT-S.

spaces will be included as standard in future building plans. Longer,

What about microinverters?

Currently it is difficult to add batteries to a microinverter solar

slimmer appliances may find a market along the inside wall of garages.

If your goal is to reduce electricity bills, it’s a good idea to

system. Option 1 is not possible as electricity from the panels is

hold off on adding batteries until price drops flow through to

AC. Options 2 or 3 are problematic as no microinverter can yet

mainstream products. If you have other motivations, there are solid

communicate with an inverter-charger. This will change when

hybrid systems available right now, at a price. Talk to an installer

Enphase releases its own battery later this year.

experienced in hybrid and off-grid.

Predicting the future

keep your options open to add batteries later. When installers are

It’s still early days for hybrid solar systems. Different concepts are

quoting, ask them how batteries can be integrated.

46 | ISSUE 4 • 2015

If you’re getting a standard grid-connected solar system, aim to

Solar products services

SOLAR & STORAGE MAGAZINE ADVERTISERS’ SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL

Seven factors Fronius says every system integrator should consider seven key items when designing an energy storage system.

When Fronius released the Fronius Energy Package in 2015, they made it clear they were serious about realising their vision of 24 hours of sun – a 100 per cent renewable energy supply.

Fronius – which introduced a solar battery solution to the market some time ago – was recently announced as one of only two Tesla Powerwall technology partners globally.

The Fronius Energy Package Powerwall is packed with features and could well be a game-changer when it arrives in Australia in 2016. But system integrators should focus on enabling consumers to make an informed decision about choosing the best storage solution for today as well as tomorrow.

Fronius reveals seven factors they think are essential for achieving this: Economic payback Storage capacity (kWh) should be sized to customers’ individual loads and the power control unit capable of charging it at the required rate for maximising return of investment (ROI). Decreasing battery prices and upcoming changes in the energy markets make retrofitting batteries in the future an attractive option for many. Implementing a monitoring system with an energy consumption meter is important now as it enables system integrators to monitor their customers’ usage patterns and retrofit a cost-effective battery solution.

Battery technology and safety Exciting new battery technologies are everywhere. Scrutinising warranty details, operating temperatures and cycles, usable capacity, efficiency, installation practicality, upgradeability, levelised cost of energy (rather than capital cost) and safety will help customers make an informed decision.

Flexibility and design The most flexible systems have the ability to charge the battery from all sources (solar and grid) and supply the loads in the smartest way, all at the same time (multiflow technology). They can also be AC coupled, where solar charges the battery from the AC side via an inverter, or DC coupled, which is the most efficient way to charge the battery from solar power (DC-to-DC charging).

Reliability, local technical support and servicing With many solar companies going bankrupt over the years, Australians have realised it’s worth paying that bit extra for quality, reliability and local support from companies that have a strong track record in service and run sustainable business models.

Electricity network limitations imposed on solar capacity In many cases consumers interested in adding battery storage may need to have PV generators larger than 5 kW. Future technology such as charging of electric vehicles or replacing gas appliances with electric

also indicate that more PV on the roof is favourable. Pre-approval processes for new solar installations on single phase can limit the solar array size. Therefore, system integrators should investigate this early. In many cases three phase connections are preferable for storage systems so the customer should understand early on whether an upgrade to their connection is required.

Smart software controls and upgrades There’s no point installing the best hardware money can buy if you don’t have the smart software to control it. Software upgrades should be available online and have the freedom to integrate with external software developers.

Energy management and self-consumption Finally, it is most important to improve household energy efficiency before considering solar and storage. Once solar in installed, the next step is increasing self-consumption during the day by taking advantage of smart controls which can switch on loads such as electric hot water heaters, pool pumps and air-conditioners. This all helps save on the size of the battery, and of course electricity bills.

To help system integrators Fronius will be running a set of training sessions on designing effective solar energy storage systems. To register interest email pv-marketing-australia@fronius.com

Opinions expressed on this page are not necessarily those of the Australian Solar Council

Solar & Storage | 47

Don’t let poor quality steal from your long-term solar return SO YOU ARE THINKING about getting solar at your place? Great idea, done right it will slash your power bills for the next 25 years. With interest rates at record lows, it is probably the smartest financial investment you will ever make.

So you go online and quickly find dozens of local solar companies, and you get a handful of quotes. Each company tells you they are the best, and their products are top rate. Some even tell you how bad the others are.

Now you’re confused. Who should you trust? What system will give you the best return?

The Australian Solar Council can help. We are a not for profit organisation that has been around since 1954. Our goal? To help people like you maximise your long-term solar returns. Our top hints to get the best solar outcome: Choose quality solar panels (buy value, don’t get sucked in by ‘sticker price’ alone).

Solar panel manufacturing is very competitive. Manufacturers can easily succumb to pressure to substitute quality components with cheap alternatives. In appearance, even a solar expert cannot tell the difference between a quality and inferior panel. The result? Solar panels that give up the ghost after just a few years, or perform badly over their lifetime.

This is like having a thief on your roof, stealing your long-term solar return.

Positive Quality™ is the equivalent of the ‘Heart Tick’ for the solar industry, a simple but comprehensive way to see that the manufacturer’s quality claims have been independently checked and verified by Australia’s solar experts.

48 | ISSUE 4 • 2015

We have fixed this too. In the Positive Quality™ program we send our experts to audit the manufacturing process and test panels before they are shipped to Australia. And we do this on a random basis four times every year.

Look out for quality Positive Quality™ is the equivalent of the ‘Heart Tick’ for the solar industry, a simple but comprehensive way to see that the manufacturer’s quality claims have been independently checked and verified by Australia’s solar experts. The result is your peace of mind. The really good news is that buying quality does not mean paying much more for your panels, and again this service is free for you.

Just look out for this symbol, and demand your installer uses Positive Quality™ panels.

There are currently two brands that carry the Positive Quality™ trustmark. Jinko Solar prides manufacturing excellence as its credential.

This is demonstrated by Jinko’s partnership with the Positive Quality™ program and further supported by good customer service and technical and warranty supports.

Risen Energy had recently successfully passed the rigorous Positive Quality™ audit. The Positive Quality™ “heart tick” on Risen panels demonstrates the company’s commitment to quality assurance systems throughout its manufacturing process.

Further panel manufacturers are currently considering joining Positive Quality™.

To keep updated please visit positivequality.com.au