Australians installed 31,000 batteries in 2020, led by households

Australian households led the installation of more than 31,000 battery energy storage systems around the country in 2020, a 20 per cent jump on total numbers in 2019, despite – or perhaps because of – the impact of Covid-19.

The latest data from solar analytics group SunWiz shows the global pandemic failed to dampen enthusiasm for solar and storage in Australia and might even have driven home the benefits of self-generation and consumption, in a year where many were confined to their homes.

For solar, 2020 delivered a number of new installation records, with the sub-100kW market growing by a massive 39 per cent year-on-year, according to SunWiz’s annual report data, via 2.97GW of new capacity installed on roughly 333,978 rooftops (that final number comes from the Australian Energy Council’s annual solar report).

SunWiz says the bumper year for batteries – the numbers for which include those installed in homes, on commercial premises and on the grid – has taken the nation’s cumulative tally of installed battery energy storage systems to almost 110,000.

And the indicators are steady for 2021, with SunWiz forecasting an additional 33,000 home battery installations for the coming year, as well as an increase in grid-scale storage.

“In 2020 Australians continued to demonstrate a desire to reduce their power bills by making the most of the nation’s abundant and cheap solar power and empower themselves with a battery,” said SunWiz managing director Warwick Johnston. “It was a surprisingly good year.”

To read the original version of this story on RenewEconomy sister site One Step Off The Grid, please click here.