Page 1608 - Week 05 - Thursday, 5 May 2016
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We received 12 very highly competitive bids from a broad range of local and nationally based businesses. Each of the companies will receive $900 for each kilowatt of sustained peak output that their batteries provide. For home owners, this means a discount of around $2,700 on a battery that can provide three kilowatts of sustained peak output. This means we will be supporting battery storage in around 200 Canberra homes as part of the pilot.
Overall, of course, this is just the first step towards the rollout of a program over the next three to four years that will see the development of 36 megawatts of storage capacity in households and businesses. It links the very high level of PV installation, solar cell installation, that we see in households and businesses across the ACT with the capacity for those households and businesses to store that electricity and then to use it at times when they need it most, when the cost of electricity is the highest, or potentially to sell it back into the grid and get a return on that sale.
This is a very important shift in the energy sector, and I am very pleased that the ACT and Canberra are leading Australia in the rollout of battery storage. Not only are we doing it in a way that will identify the regulatory and technical barriers that are there for the uptake of this new technology, but it is supporting Canberra industries and Canberra jobs. We are supporting smart start-up companies here in the ACT as well as well-established Canberra-based commercial firms that want to make this transition with us, and I look forward to their ongoing participation. (Time expired.)
MADAM SPEAKER: Before I call Mr Hinder, during the minister’s answer there was a lot of conversation on the opposition benches. I do not mind conversation, but can you keep it down, please. It was hard for me to hear, and I am sure it was distracting for Mr Corbell. Mr Hinder.
MR HINDER: Minister, can you outline for the Assembly how the renewable energy reverse auction currently underway will contribute to the rollout of battery storage in the ACT?
MR CORBELL: I thank Mr Hinder for his supplementary. As members would be aware, the government is also conducting a large-scale reverse auction for what is now—as of the debate this afternoon where I trust we will see support—200 megawatts of large-scale renewable energy generation, which could be either solar or wind generation, at large commercial scale. This auction is not only going to deliver us the extra renewable energy we need to reach our 100 per cent renewable energy target by the year 2020—a commitment that has been welcomed very warmly in the local community and nationally—but it will also see those winning bidders making a contribution to support the grants program that will assist us to roll out the next generation battery storage initiative.
Those bidders will be required to make a commitment as part of their bid to fund that next generation battery storage initiative. This is not taxpayers’ money that is being used to provide grants; instead we are leveraging the strong interest and the strong level of investment that private solar and wind developers are prepared to make to roll out battery storage here in the ACT.
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