TRANSFORMING SOLAR SOLUTIONS
Consumer demand for home battery storage is on the rise, paving the way for cloud-based monitoring solutions in both new and retrofit applications.
A
round 1.5 million Australian households already have solar panels installed, according to figures from the Australian Energy Council. The reasonably high uptake levels — around 16.5% of households — are largely due to a combination of mandatory renewable energy targets and feed-in tariff programs, which varied from state to state.
The end is nigh for tariffs As many of those programs draw to an end, consumer demand for a way to save and store one’s own energy is on the up. According to Bradford Solar, a division of CSR Bradford, six out of every 10 enquiries are from existing solar customers looking to upgrade existing systems and to transform the way they store and consume their energy. The company offers the Tesla Powerwall solution in conjunction with a 3.5 kW SolarEdge inverter, with the entire package installed and ready to monitor in under 4 h.
CSR Bradford Executive General Manager Anthony Tannous says the increased interest is because there were relatively few available options for home owners until fairly recently. “Until now, there have been few suppliers providing Australian home owners with the option to do this. We have partnered with SolarEdge to provide existing solar owners with the missing piece of their energy solution,” he said. Existing solar users who have already taken charge of their energy use currently enjoy free energy during the day. By upgrading their system, they now have the power to store the electricity generated during the day to run their home at night. A typical Australian house consumes around 21 kWh per day. Tesla Powerwall is capable of storing 6.4 kWh per day, which is enough to support the average home’s evening energy use. With the end dates for selected feed-in tariffs in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia looming, it is anticipated that demand will continue to rise.
22 ECD [ELECTRICAL+COMMS+DATA] - NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016
www.ecdonline.com.au