A federal government program that gives a 30% subsidy on home batteries has sparked an “off the charts” surge in installations, with more than 11,500 applications to the scheme in its first three weeks.
Industry analysts said the battery boom was reminiscent of the surge in rooftop solar 15 years ago, and that it was ushering in a second revolution in home electricity.
According to data provided to Guardian Australia by the Clean Energy Regulator (CER), 11,536 batteries have been installed since the government’s $2.3bn Cheaper Home Batteries program opened for connections on 1 July. More than 1,000 batteries were being installed every day.
The managing director of solar consultancy SunWiz, Warwick Johnston, said on some days more battery systems had been registered than stand-alone solar systems – a first for Australia.
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“Before the scheme was announced, there were about 75,000 battery installations in 2024 compared to 300,000 solar PV systems. So to go from one in six, to one [for] one, shows this [program] has unleashed a wave of interest,” he said.
The CER data showed about 40% of the installations since 1 July were in New South Wales, 20% in Queensland, 17% in South Australia and 12% in Victoria.
Residents in NSW can also claim hundreds of dollars against a battery from a state-based scheme if they connect it to a virtual power plant provider that aggregates available power and then uses it to keep the electricity system stable.
The CER data showed the average size of the batteries under the scheme was 17 kilowatt hours, which Johnston said was much bigger than the ongoing average of 10-12 kWh.
Eligible batteries are between 5 kWh and 100 kWh, although fees under the program are only paid up to the first 50 kWh.
The chief executive of the Energy Efficiency Council, Luke Menzel, said interest in the battery program was “off the charts”.
“It underlines just how hungry households are for solutions that can help them manage their energy costs,” he said.
Spike in batteries
In recent months companies have been allowed to sell and install batteries under the scheme, as long as they were not turned on until after 1 July.
Andre Scott, a director at solar and battery installer 1KOMMA5, said in May and June, total sales of solar and batteries were up 76% on the same period in 2024.
“We’ve also seen a significant spike in battery-only purchases – a 459% increase. If we include July, the demand has been at unseen levels across the board,” he said.
Scott said the surge in battery-only installations had come from people with existing solar systems.
Typical prices for a battery were between $1,000 and $1,200 a kWh before discounts, he said. Most batteries were installed in a way that would provide homes with back-up power in the case of outages.
Demand ‘has gone nuts’
The director of analysis and advisory at Green Energy Markets, Tristan Edis, said the “demand for batteries has gone nuts”.
He said if the current rate of installations was maintained then within five years there would be about 10,000MW of battery capacity installed.
“That’s a big deal when you think we have 20,000MW of coal capacity [in Australia].
He said adding batteries in homes would help to spread the use of solar energy into the evening and cut electricity demand during peak periods – a time, he said, when gas turbines traditionally ramp up.
“[The boom in batteries] completely destroys the business case for a gas turbine and also the high evening prices that coal generators rely on.”
Another revolution
Johnston said the levels of interest in home batteries was reminiscent of a period between 2008 and 2010 when the rooftop solar boom took hold.
“There’s been a latent interest in batteries and people have been waiting for them to get cheaper. This program has improved the financials of it,” he said.
Since the solar boom, the amount that households are paid for feeding electricity back to the grid has dropped significantly.
The general manager of distributed energy at the renewable industry’s Clean Energy Council, Con Hristodoulidis, said it had taken four years to accumulate 185,000 installed batteries, but that figure could be at 300,000 by the end of the year.
“Solar was the first wave with people realising they could have energy independence. I think this is the second wave of a revolution,” he said.
Menzel said Australia had become a world leader in the adoption of rooftop solar with more than 4m systems now installed.
“The early interest in home batteries echoes the early ramp up in solar.
“This is a sign that with the right support the suburbs will step up again to invest in the efficient, electric technologies that will help them drive down their bills.”
But he said considering the demand so far, it was “very unlikely the $2.3bn that has been allocated by the government will last through to 2030 as advertised.”
The government allocated $2.3bn in forward estimates for the program, and a further $1.2bn to 2030-31. The discount value per kWh will fall each year as battery prices are also expected to fall.
In a statement, the federal energy minister, Chris Bowen, said more than 10,000 people had already claimed on the scheme “to cut their power bills for good – slashing up to 90% off their energy bill from day one.”
