Massive savings on energy prices and thousands of Australian jobs will be the benefits of a national strategy to support the uptake of rooftop solar, home batteries and electrification, according to a new Clean Energy Council report.
Among these benefits, all Australian households and businesses stand to save up to $71 annually on energy bills under such a strategy, irrespective of whether they have installed these Consumer Energy Resources (CER) or not.
Powering Homes, Empowering People: A National Consumer Energy Resources Roadmap sets out the optimal pathway for Australia to capitalise on its world-leading uptake of rooftop solar and empower all energy customers to benefit from the shift to an electric future.
“It is critical that we get the policy settings right to maximise the benefits of Australia’s rooftop solar success story,” Clean Energy Council Policy Director – Distributed Energy, Con Hristodoulidis, said.
“Australia’s electrification journey has only just begun and adopting CER at even greater scale will be the key to lowering power bills and a timely energy transition.”
Under the lowest cost pathway modelled in the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO)’s Step Change scenario, CER storage capacity is expected to increase to 34 GW, while orchestrated capacity that is integrated into the grid will increase to a total of 27 GW by 2050.
The Clean Energy Council commissioned modelling by energy industry consultancy, Oakley Greenwood, to estimate the cost of not meeting these targets, which included:
The modelling also suggests that a range of policies and programs should be considered by the Federal Government to maximise the benefits of electrification, far in excess of their overall cost. These include:
“Unlike similar reports that focus on supply-side challenges for CER and the grid, the policy recommendations set out in this roadmap will guide Federal, state, territory and local governments in planning over the long term to unlock exciting new opportunities for every Australian household and business,” Hristodoulidis said.
“Empowering homeowners, renters, social housing residents and business owners to understand and adopt CER will build an Australian energy system that is cleaner, cheaper and fairer for everyone.”
ENDS
For more information or to arrange an interview, contact:
Liam Straughan
Clean Energy Council Media Officer
[email protected]
+61 409 470 683