Energy Insiders Podcast: Battery storage subsidies and SA energy minister Dan van Holst Pellekaan

What a week.

First there is the announcement in Canberra that they are not interested in achieving any emissions reductions, and reckon there is already too much wind and solar in the system.

And then there are the states.

In South Australia, the Liberal government has announced details of its first battery storage subsidy program – designed to support batteries in 40,000 homes – and SA energy minister Dan van Holst Pellekaan joins us to talk about why subsidies in this case are a good idea, plans by Sonnen to built a manufacturing facility in the state, and the benefits of the state’s transition to a largely renewables grid.

In Victoria, we look at their battery storage subsidy plan, plus the results of the renewable energy auction – the largest in Australia – which has delivered lower than expected prices, and much more capacity than planned.

But, at least Canberra has a new power source. It’s called “Fair Dinkum” power, and even though it refers to coal generation, we suspect it is largely renewable, because the whole idea of Fair Dinkum power is based around so much hot air and bollocks. And there is more than enough of that in Parliament these days.

Please check out this and past episodes of Energy Insiders here, and also our interview with chief scientist Alan Finkel about his interest in electric vehicles and hydrogen transport, recorded for our new EV website, TheDriven.io. And later this week, on Solar Insiders, we will have an interview with Sonnen founder and CEO Christoph Ostermann.