NSW state government rolls out new scheme on energy renewables

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The NSW state government is offering financial incentives to supercharge the uptake of household batteries feeding rooftop solar energy into the grid.

Transcript

00:00 When capturing the sun's energy, there can be too much of a good thing.

00:06 Peak demand causes grid stability issues on the hottest days, when we have multiple afternoons

00:11 of heat in a row.

00:12 That's where household batteries come in.

00:15 They can be connected to form something called a virtual power plant and feed energy to the

00:19 grid in exchange for payment.

00:21 We're moving from a system of three or four coal-fired power plants that provide most

00:27 of the baseload power to literally mini power stations on the top of every house.

00:32 Now the state government is bringing in a scheme aimed at sparking a higher uptake.

00:37 Household batteries typically start at $10,000.

00:40 Under the program, households will get a discount of between $1,600 and $2,400, depending on

00:46 the size of the battery.

00:48 Southern Sydney resident Carmela Savoca says it's enough to get her over the line.

00:52 I was concerned about the cost and how long it would take to pay it off.

00:56 The repayment time can vary wildly.

00:59 From 10 years payback right down to about six year payback.

01:03 That's best case.

01:04 If everything doesn't line up, that payback can stretch out for over 20 years.

01:08 AusGrid, Essential Energy and Endeavour Energy have announced two-way tariffs, meaning households

01:13 will be penalised for exporting solar energy during the middle of the day.

01:17 That's a really heavy-handed, blunt approach.

01:20 They're leading with the stick rather than the carrot.

01:22 Until enough renewable generation and storage is in the system, the government is paying

01:27 Origin Energy to keep the state's largest coal-fired power plant firing beyond its scheduled

01:32 retirement next year.

01:34 The O'Farrell government sold a wiring a decade ago for $50 million.

01:38 Now it could cost taxpayers nine times that to keep it going.

01:42 I think it was a terrible deal for taxpayers.

01:44 The solar incentives begin in November.

01:47 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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