Imagine being the only one in your street with power as Sydney blackouts hit home on the hottest day of summer so far.
Eastern suburbs resident Carl Prins enjoyed this experience yesterday. The reason? His solar-powered Tesla Powerwall 2 battery kicked in as 45,000 homes and businesses in Sydney’s eastern suburbs lost power due to a fault in an underground cable.
As a result, Prins kept his fridge, air-conditioning and computer purring while the temperature outside climbed to 40°C.
Tesla Powerwall 2 saves money in Sydney blackouts
Speaking to ABC News, Prins estimated the $12,000 Powerwall 2 home battery saves his family around $3,000 a year.
The battery, which weighs 125 kilograms, is charged by rooftop solar panels and automatically kicks in when there’s a power failure.
Prins says he received the a notification of the outage of Sydney power at 11.30am. However, his battery had already kicked in automatically at the first sign of the Sydney blackouts.
Peer to peer solar energy trading now trialled
Prins says his solar and battery set up would be even better if he could trade excess solar energy with his neighbours.
Peer to peer solar energy trading is already being trialled across Australia. This allows owners of solar battery systems to generate, store, share and trade solar energy with others in the network.
Energy trading software company Power Ledger is trialling P2P electricity trading at four strata units in the Victorian suburb of Burwood.
Meanwhile, Fremantle residents in WA will also be trading solar energy via a blockchain-enabled platform this year. Around 40 households will then be able to buy and sell solar power to their peers.
Smart technology helps consumers take solar control
A new range of smart apps help consumers take control of the way they generate, consumer and store their solar energy.
Apps like PowerPlay lead the field, allowing households to monitor the amount of solar energy they generate and use. Users can therefore adapt consumption to save money on power bills.
PowerPlay can also be retrofitted to existing solar panel systems in Melbourne. It shows you how much power you are using from panels, battery or grid. It also alerts you to faulty appliances and shows you much money you are saving.
