S.A. network says solar plus battery storage to cost just 15c/kWh

Image: AGL Energy

The price of rooftop solar and battery storage for household and business consumers will fall to just 15c/kWh within a few years, leading to a dramatic reshaping of the energy grid, according to a leading network operator.

Image: AGL Energy

Rob Stobbe, the head of SA Power Networks, which operates the local network in South Australia, says rooftop solar has already fallen to around 5c/kWh for households and businesses.

The cost of battery storage, he says, will fall to within 10c/kWh of usable power within the next 5-10 years, meaning a total of 15c/kWh for solar and storage – less than half the cost of grid power in South Australia (35c/kWh).

“Why wouldn’t that new technology come on board,” he said, in a panel session at the presentation of the AEMO final report on last year’s “system black” in South Australia.

The dramatic forecasts by one of the country’s key network owners highlights just how fast, and how extensive, the national grid’s shift from centralised to distributed energy will be.

And it has huge implications, not just for the way the network businesses are run, but also for the generators and retailers – often the same company – that operate most of the centralised generators and bill the customers.

Stobbe says that in South Australia, he expects at least 70 per cent of all its 850,000 customers to have rooftop solar, and 50 per cent of its customers to have battery storage by 2035.

In a grid that has a peak load of just over 3,000MW, and average load of around 1,500MW, rooftop solar will have combined capacity of some 2,000MW, with another 2,000MW of battery storage on top of that.

Then, he says, there will another 2,000MW or so of vehicle battery storage – with 30 per cent of customers taking up EVs – both drawing down from the grid at certain times, but also able to provide much of that capacity at others.

“Solar from the roof itself will have a big impact. No doubt within 5-10 years, those prices will come down significantly.

“There is no doubt the industry is changing significantly. We have to got to change too.” He said it was already becoming a two-way network to enable all this distributed generation to be linked.”

“These are the most exiting and challenging times that the industry is facing. We are moving from a one size fits all type arrangment where we have centralised generation running through transmission lines through our network and to the customer.

“We are really moving to a lot more diverse generation, large and small scale generation  … really, that is the future.”

Indeed, the CSIRO and the networks lobby have predicted that more than half of all electricity supply will come from rooftop solar and other distributed generation, and in South Australia, which already sources half of its demand from wind and solar, will likely move to around 85 per cent renewable energy by 2035.

The forecasts from SAPN support this. Currently, the state has around 650MW of rooftop solar, and some 1,600MW of wind energy.

But with rooftop solar set to treble, more wind farms plans, and a host of various large scale solar farms to be built, some with storage, this is likely to dramatically change the face of the state’s generation profile.

So much so, Stobbe has said in the past, that he cannot see a future of large scale generators and retailers of the type that exist now.

Indeed, he accused the so-called “gentailers” of being the cause of much of the recent doubling in electricity prices.

He particularly mentioned the bidding patterns, an issue raised by SAPN’s owners Spark Infrastructure in its Finkel submission, when it accused the generators of artificially forcing up prices by withdrawing capacity.

But he also noted that the high cost of wholesale electricity was the result of high gas prices. Because gas generation was the last bid into the market, that set the price, and it didn’t matter how much wind and coal generation there was.

“It not a capacity issue. We have got more installed generation than we need. But we may need to have a certain level of availability and the way it is bid into the market,” Stobbe said.

And he questioned what the rules were about the mothballing of plant which are “obviously useful” and the timing of maintenance.

Comments

8 responses to “S.A. network says solar plus battery storage to cost just 15c/kWh”

  1. john Avatar
    john

    For a small user of power under 16 kWh per day purchasing a 5 kW system and a 13.4 kW storage system would for enable all power needed except for perhaps 3 to 5 days a year.
    Cost of PV and Storage would be $16 k after 10 years time replacement of Storage at a lower cost would be required.
    Cost of power for the 10 years to purchase would be above $16,000 seems pretty obvious this is doable.

    1. Rod Avatar
      Rod

      If you are in your home for 5 years or more, PV is a no brainer.
      I’m seeing battery ads everywhere, even on TV and that is usually the trigger for takeoff.
      Gentailers need to decide to play nice or they will be left out all together.

      1. Darren Avatar
        Darren

        The death spiral is real. If anything, the gentailers have left this almost too little too late.

  2. Radbug Avatar
    Radbug

    I’m a pensioner. I have evacuated tube HW. I consume 6.6 kWh per day. After the pensioner rebate, my quarterly bill is $142, of which $95 is grid access fee. I’ll stay on the grid, thank you very much.

    1. Ian Avatar
      Ian

      I’m sure you would considering the concession is close to $200 a year! In the future only the subsidised will be able to afford grid access;)

      1. Radbug Avatar
        Radbug

        Actually, Ian, the QLD Govt rebate is $296 per year!

    2. Greg Hudson Avatar
      Greg Hudson

      If you install a small solar array, you will turn that $142 per quarter into a small profit. It will easily cover your grid access fees. (Assuming you can install solar).
      Prices continue to drop… $999 for a solar AND battery combo I saw here:
      http://www.hellosolar.com.au

  3. Brunel Avatar
    Brunel

    I do not think the cost of rooftop solar power is that low. Large scale solar power stations do produce electrons cheaply but AUS probably had no solar power auction.

    Solar power auctions took place in Chile, Dubai, India, etc.

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