Final week was an enormous one for these of us serving to Australians purchase and set up rooftop PV, photo voltaic batteries, and good vitality programs of their houses after a comparatively new occasion rolled into city. Sydney performed host to Power Subsequent and it was evident from the customer numbers, which have been greater on the primary day than over the entire occasion final yr, that there was loads of curiosity within the subjects!
Each business bigwigs, and plenty of home- and business-owners have been current, exhibiting simply how eager individuals are to find out about not solely all issues photo voltaic, but additionally in regards to the want for totally electrified houses.
At Power Subsequent, Warwick Johnston, director of market intelligence and consulting agency SunWiz, offered an replace on Australia’s rooftop photo voltaic and residential battery market in Australia. He’s been lively on the Aussie photo voltaic scene since its early days and was a keynote speaker on the occasion.
Along with discussing the photo voltaic and storage markets, Johnston additionally offered some predictions for the longer term. One of many key traits he sees is that to allow a residential market transitioning to electrification – with the addition of supporting expertise like storage, electrical automobile (EV) charging, and warmth pumps – rooftop photo voltaic system sizes are starting to extend markedly from the times when 6.6 kW was the usual.
As a substitute, the analyst and guide stated that to supply the facility accessible for a house to pursue the objective of electrifying all the pieces, system sizes of extra like 26.6 kW can be wanted. That’s a number of photo voltaic to suit onto the roof, however most Australian houses have the area, significantly in the event that they use excessive effectivity PV panels and gear.
Booming demand
That Aussie residence photo voltaic and battery programs are getting larger can also be backed up by new market knowledge. This data was revealed in a Guardian article from a few weeks in the past that quoted Tristan Edis, the director of research and advisory at Inexperienced Power Markets.
Edis famous that of the brand new PV programs being bought in Australia this yr, many shoppers are opting to switch their smaller present programs with bigger ones as they search to benefit from reducing costs and the truth that every panel can produce rather more energy.
“No brainer”
Moreover, on the again of the broadly reported hovering electrical energy costs, Edis stated demand for rooftop photo voltaic programs from Aussie householders and small companies is selecting up, with roughly 1.46 GW of latest programs added to residential properties and companies within the first half of 2023. June specifically witnessed stellar development, with 13.2% extra installations recorded than the earlier yr, at 250 MW, he stated.
You may take a look at the set up numbers within the chart above, with the orange line exhibiting the 2023 installations. It’s probably it’ll head upwards for the rest of the yr.
Given one other improve in electrical energy costs of as much as 25% this month, Edis stated he’s assured that 2023 will see the three.2 GW rooftop set up document achieved in 2021 crushed.
“It’s monitoring on the second highest it’s ever been,” Edis instructed the Guardian. “I believe it’s going to proceed to be a sturdy yr when it comes to gross sales due to energy costs … and by the top of the yr, [new capacity] might be going to be much like what it was in 2021.”
Act now!
For individuals who have been contemplating putting in a rooftop photo voltaic system to counter hovering prices, now’s the time to behave, based on client advocacy group CHOICE. Certainly, given the excessive electrical energy costs and improved payback instances on photo voltaic programs of 4 to 5 years, CHOICE says that “there’s by no means been a greater time to make the leap.”
Based mostly on a 6.6 kW system that self-generates 35% of a family of 5’s complete vitality consumption, photo voltaic knowledgeable Chris Barnes stated that quarterly funds could possibly be beneath $100 {dollars} in comparison with lots of of {dollars}.
“What you get to your greenback is mostly superior to what you’d have purchased a couple of years in the past,” he stated. “The photo voltaic payback interval is how lengthy it takes to your photo voltaic panel system to pay for itself from the financial savings in your diminished electrical energy payments.”
Total, CHOICE discovered that payback durations in capital cities may drop by a median of 10%, and by as much as 30% in some regional areas.
Barnes added that no matter the place you reside, “The earlier you get panels on the roof, the earlier you begin saving cash. It’s typically stated that the most effective time to get photo voltaic was a yr in the past, and the subsequent finest time is now.”
Driving power
As Power Subsequent occasion attendees additionally heard, a key element of rising the photo voltaic business, and electrification, are EVs. And, whereas there may be nonetheless a option to go within the Australian market, with challenges to beat, together with constructing client confidence, decreasing present excessive automobile costs, and putting in satisfactory charging infrastructure, there’s a big alternative within the nation to drive this business ahead.
This sentiment was underscored by a latest report launched by Schneider Electrical, which acknowledged that 1% of companies have expressed a need to impress their fleet. And I’m assured that quantity goes to shoot up.
That is excellent news for residential photo voltaic, given the alternatives such a fleet presents for it to benefit from the vitality generated when the EVs should not in use. As occasion panelist Brett Milne, Managing Director and Founder, Karit, identified when addressing issues round grid stability and cargo administration, digital energy crops are a key answer.
“There are a number of completely different definitions of a digital energy plant however one of many fundamental advantages is the flexibility to share from one facet to a different. We’re seeing this getting used on fairly a big scale, with factories, wineries and residential dwellings connecting and sharing,” he stated.
Batteries child
Inevitably, when putting in PV programs, and transferring in direction of 100% electrification, vitality storage can also be a key element.
In keeping with the 2023 Australian Battery Market Report by SunWiz – Warwick Johnston’s outfit – Australia’s residence vitality storage system market grew “considerably” in 2022 throughout all states and territories. The annual improve was a whopping 55%, reaching a complete of 589 MWh of residence vitality storage.
What’s extra, programs mixed with PV grew from 8% in 2021, and even surpassed 2017’s document of 12%, to succeed in 15% in 2022, thus bringing cumulative capability to 180,000 houses in Australia, or 1,920 MWh.
We will’t neglect about good vitality administration programs both. As we at Pure Photo voltaic highlighted final October: “For the efficient decarbonisation of Australian houses, photo voltaic vitality will even have for use effectively within the residence and in an elevated variety of methods. Fossil-fuel utilizing heaters, cooktops, and automobiles should be electrified, and the powering of those with rooftop photo voltaic just isn’t solely finished finest with a house battery, but additionally with a sensible vitality administration system.”
These programs mark a transition from pure residential photo voltaic 1.0 to a sensible vitality home-based business 2.0.
An integral a part of that is our good vitality controller, the Heartbeat, which helps houses take most benefit of their full electrification potential. As I wrote on the time, with a right-sized residential photo voltaic and battery system coupled to the Heartbeat, we’ve seen some houses save 120% on their electrical energy invoice.
However beware!
Whereas CHOICE is advocating for shoppers to put in clear vitality programs now, it does warn in regards to the risks of client exploitation by “shark” corporations that aren’t adequately certified.
“Don’t fall for traditional traps corresponding to ‘restricted time affords’, and get the complete specs of the photo voltaic system in writing earlier than signing up, to keep away from the supplier substituting different manufacturers on the final minute,” suggested Barnes. As a substitute, go for a professional and pre-vetted photo voltaic installer that additionally affords trusted and established gear manufacturers.
With a confirmed background that features being an Accredited Provider of the NSW Empowering Houses Program – the objective is to ship photo voltaic batteries to as much as 300,000 NSW houses throughout the subsequent 10 years – and with “unicorn” 1KOMMA5° backing us up, Pure Photo voltaic has demonstrated it’s Australia’s main installer of photo voltaic batteries, and will be relied upon to go the gap.
