A new poll indicates 71% of Australian voters would consider voting for a party that supported distributed small-scale solar and storage.
The Australia Institute’s report into battery storage also states 1 in 4 Australians want to generate their own power and store it with view to disconnecting from the mains grid altogether.
“1.5 million Australian households have invested in rooftop solar on their homes and our research shows that over 80% of those households are considering buying batteries to boost their array,” says Australia Institute strategist and report author, Dan Cass.
“Overall interest in owning battery storage has leapt from 49% to 63% in 12 months.”
That spike in interest probably had a great deal to do with the launch of Tesla Powerwall and more recently, Fronius Solar Battery and Enphase AC Battery; with the latter arriving on our shores very soon.
Mr. Cass says the interest in energy storage provided a good opportunity savvy politicians to gain support.
“Solar households are paid so much less for the power they export than the power they are sold by retailers that they may be driven off-grid and this is a major policy and political problem,” states Mr. Cass.
“The federal government needs to work with the clean energy sector to quickly to unleash competition from storage while also ensuring safety standards for all battery technologies, to protect consumers and give the industry confidence to invest,” Dan Cass said.
Renewables generally are a hot topic during Federal Election 2016.
A Reachtel poll last month indicated 64% of Australians would be more likely to vote for a party with plans to source 100 per cent of Australia’s energy from renewables.
Earlier this year, findings from an Essential poll suggested 63% of Australians would be more likely to vote for party with a goal of seeing solar panels on every suitable rooftop in Australia. 60% would vote for a policy that helped Australians buy battery systems.
Australians taking a wait-and-see approach regarding more battery rebates and subsidies that may occur as a result of the Federal Election may not want to wait too long – an existing subsidy that can reduce the cost of a solar + battery system will start decreasing in the not too distant future.
