Reasonably Priced Solar Energy To Way To Australia

The entry of reasonably priced storage batteries for solar energy will help Australia's electricity industry to welcome a massive transformation.

One of the co-founders of PayPal, Elon Musk launched a lithium-ion battery called the Powerwall this month, which is expected to be available in Australia next year for about AU $5,500. Mr. Musk’s revolutionary Tesla electric car and Powerwall were being developed around the same time; the car was launched later last year.

Mr. Musk explained how convenient the batteries would be, saying, "You can take your solar panels, charge the battery packs and that's all you use."

According to Bloomberg new energy finance analyst Kobad Bhavnagri, the batteries would act as "a complete game-changer". Since solar PV (photo-voltaic panels) comes along with the batteries, it allows users to become their own new power stations.

With this advent, Australia could become Powerwall's one of the biggest markets owing to the high take-up of residential solar PV rooftop panels. Renew Economy editor Giles Parkinson said he already anticipated a huge response. "It will happen quicker in Australia than it will happen anywhere else in the world because of the high retail prices," he told 7.30 -- ABC TV's national flagship current affairs program.

He added, the change is going to be as big as what the country has seen in the telecommunications industry with mobile phones.

Homegrown: Local Power Companies Waking Up

While some of Australia's renowned power companies are already struggling to match up, the owner of AGL -- Victoria's brown coal generator has announced the plan to market its own battery package sometime soon. AGL is reportedly the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in Australia.

In Townsville, Ergon Energy has also started experimenting solar battery combinations with many of its customers.

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