Energy storage market set to boom – but is Australia ready?

When the Howard Government doubled a rebate for solar power systems in 2007, no-one realised how quickly the spread of the technology would change Australia’s energy system. But the rising cost of power, the falling cost of solar technology and the enthusiasm of state and federal governments to help people take back control of their power bills proved decisive. The industry boom was unprecedented and thousands of new jobs were created. Our power grid will never look the same again.

The potential of energy storage in Australia is huge, whether it be helping householders to maximise the use of their own solar power, smoothing grid-based energy to manage Australia’s peak demand, or network-integrated storage helping to support electricity networks.

It’s increasingly easy to imagine a future in which battery storage is fully embedded into the network, driven by smart meters, integrated with distributed generation and technologies like electric cars, to create a fully interactive and intelligent grid.

Right now the energy storage market is already growing rapidly, and is set to transform the electricity industry. Tesla Motors is building a $US5 billion Gigafactory in the United States to make batteries cheaper. The foundations of a remarkable industry are already being assembled, and a huge range of business opportunities are beginning to present themselves.

We must be ready to take advantage of the opportunities for innovation. If we don’t plan strategically for the growth of this industry, major barriers to investment will remain and consumers will end up confused or frustrated.

Two years ago the Clean Energy Council published a market sizing and policy barriers study on energy storage. A lot has happened since, but there has been little coordination of effort and no clear view of what needs to be done to fully unlock the potential of energy storage in Australia.

All that is about to change. The Clean Energy Council is launching our Australian Storage Industry Roadmap.

We have already begun work, with a cross-industry committee, on developing a formal Australian Standard for batteries, as well as cradle-to-grave guidelines for proper quality control and the recycling or disposal of storage systems.

Through a multi-million dollar project funded by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), we are doing extensive research into the technical and economic barriers to battery storage, and we’re developing an Australian-first Consumer Guide to Battery Storage to complement our popular Consumer Guide to Solar PV.

We’ll be working with the energy storage industry to develop pro-storage policies specifically tailored to the Australian political climate and the mechanics of our electricity market. And we strongly encourage energy storage companies and associated businesses to get involved through our Storage Advisory Group.

Through the roadmap process we will commence the first battery market industry survey to gather current data on the numbers and types of systems installed, as well as identifying any barriers that would stop existing solar companies adding storage devices to their list of products. Getting hold of even basic data and market intelligence on storage is very difficult compared to how easy it is to find out more about the spread of grid-connected solar power systems. The survey aims to address that.

Energy storage is approaching the tipping point that solar PV hit a few years ago. The scale and speed of that change caught everyone by surprise, but we can – and should – be much better prepared for the energy storage boom. Now is the time for the industry to work together to secure our future.

Kane Thornton is chief executive of the the Clean Energy Council