The Victorian government has flagged plans to expand its battery storage scheme, to pave the way for the establishment of virtual power plants made up of the state’s growing number of home solar and storage systems.
In its latest notice to market, published late last week, Solar Victoria said it would begin encouraging the aggregation of batteries funded under the Solar Homes Program to broaden the reach of the benefits of battery storage.
As it stands, Victoria’s solar battery rebate currently offers a rebate of $4,838 on a range of CEC approved battery systems for households in more than 250 postcodes across the state.
Starting July 01, the notice said the rebate amount would be reduced to $4,174 and households would be encouraged to participate in aggregation programs.
This would involve those households agreeing to allow a power company to access stored energy from their battery system during peak energy events.
“Aggregation will increasingly become a vital tool to enable the increased visibility of energy usage across the grid, enabling technology to be deployed in key areas where there may be already high penetration of solar PV, and resulting in the increased reliability and security of the grid,” the notice says.
Already the rebate scheme requires subsidised battery energy storage systems to be on Solar Victoria’s Approved Battery List which are comprised of energy storage solutions considered ‘Virtual Power Plant (VPP) capable.’
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