(REPOST: PV Magazine)

Reports from Australia’s PV installers are that interest in battery storage is surging. Hype about brands like Tesla, worries over grid security, and the increasing competitiveness of battery systems on price is combining to lead to Australian households to take a close look at adding electrical storage when putting solar on their roof.

The latest figures from the Clean Energy Regulator bare out that trend, although the installation rate is below some of the more optimistic forecasts made by some industry observers.

The leading state for small scale solar+storage installations in 2017, by a considerable margin, was New South Wales with 1,604, followed by Queensland (684), Victoria (598), and South Australia (420).

The Clean Energy Regulator collects the data on storage installations on a voluntary basis, so there may be some underreporting of installation numbers. It also does not track battery systems being retrofitted to existing PV arrays. The government agency published the findings in its monthly Summary of Postcode Data report on small scale renewable energy installations.

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