Network trial shows consumers – and networks – benefit from battery storage

The first completed battery storage trial by an Australian network operator has shown that the combined benefits of battery storage nearly match the costs of technology, and should exceed them as battery storage costs continue to fall.

AusNet Services’ three-year battery storage trial, the results of which were released on Thursday, tested a range of ways to use residential batteries, including exporting electricity into the grid at peak demand times, that might delay or offset costly network investment.

The trial tested battery systems using five different ways of providing demand management, including varying the source of battery charging (off peak grid electricity or solar) and varying the balance between targeting customer benefits or network benefits.

It also explored the potential of residential batteries to flatten customer demand profiles – and thus reduce electricity bills; to manage the peaks in network demand; and improve the integration of residential solar power into the network.

The trial found that a typical residential customer with solar panels could save $1,500 over five years by adding a battery storage system, and $3,500 over the lifetime of the system. Those benefits could increase by one third if customers took up flexible pricing tariffs.

The potential benefit for a network from the same system – depending on its location – could be double that amount, at $3,000 over five years. That mostly comes from avoided network spending, but this value could increase by 10 per cent if load levelling was also included.

“The findings show that network businesses have real incentives to support the take-up of this new technology,” said AusNet spokesman Alistair Parker. “There are an estimated 1.4 million solar systems in Australia that, if paired with residential battery systems, could revolutionise the role these customer assets play at the macro-grid level.

But Parker stressed that while the benefits for both consumers and networks looked to be substantial, facilitating the smooth, fair and efficient take-up of battery storage remained a “massive challenge” for industry and policy makers.

“Network businesses must understand how to integrate these technologies into the existing grid before they penetrate the mass market, causing massive network disruption. It’s only early days, but this trial is a milestone along that path,” he said.

On battery system costs, the trial found that these were “still generally uneconomic” at this time, even factoring in customer and network benefits.

But the rapid evolution of the technology meant that it was likely to become economic in the “near future,” either through the development of business models that unlock additional value, or through continuing technology cost reduction.