When most people think of home batteries, they’re thinking about one simple problem: "How can I store my solar so I can use it at night?" And for good reason. For years, that’s largely been how batteries have been marketed. A bit more independence from the grid. A bit more peace of mind if the lights go out.
But as we move deeper into Australia’s renewable energy transition, that’s no longer the full story. Batteries, particularly when paired with smart software and real-time energy pricing, are playing a far bigger role behind the scenes.
At Amber, we often talk about batteries not just as storage devices, but as the quiet engine room of a smarter, more flexible energy system. One that helps households, the grid, and the planet all at once. The bigger picture is where batteries really start to shine.
The core problem: timing
Australia has no shortage of renewable energy potential. Our solar and wind resources are world-class. In fact, on many sunny days, solar generation already supplies most of the power in parts of the grid. The problem isn’t how much renewable energy we can generate - it’s when that generation happens.
Solar floods the grid during the middle of the day - often creating more supply than we can use at that time. Demand tends to peak in the evenings, after the sun has set, as households turn on lights, heating or cooling, and cook dinner. That mismatch creates volatility in the grid and pushes up wholesale prices during peak periods.
Without enough storage, we’re left either curtailing renewables during the day (essentially wasting free, clean energy), or relying on fossil-fuelled peaking plants when demand surges at night.
That gap between supply and demand is one of the biggest challenges in the transition to 100% renewables, and one that batteries are uniquely positioned to solve.
Batteries: smoothing the peaks and filling the valleys
Batteries soak up excess solar generation when it’s cheap or even free, and release it when demand is high. In doing so, they help supply demand peaks, reduce price spikes, and reduce pressure on the grid. They’re like shock absorbers for an energy system that was originally designed for predictable, centralised generation.
At a household level, this creates the first big win: lower bills. Instead of paying peak prices from the grid, households can draw on stored solar or cheap off-peak energy. And with smart automation, they can even buy power from the grid when prices drop into negative territory and export it back when prices spike - generating earnings rather than just savings.
At Amber, our customers with batteries are already seeing these benefits every day. Some are regularly receiving negative bills - getting paid for the role their batteries play in supporting the grid at the right times.
The second layer: automation changes everything
In a world of real-time energy markets, timing matters. And while some energy enthusiasts are happy to manually monitor prices and optimise their battery usage, most people don’t have the time or desire to become amateur energy traders.
That’s where automation becomes crucial.
Amber’s SmartShift technology automatically optimises batteries to buy, store, and sell energy based on live price signals, weather forecasts, household usage patterns and grid needs - all while keeping the customer in control. The system does the heavy lifting, while households simply benefit from lower bills, greater transparency, and full visibility into how their energy is being managed.
The result? Many of our customers are cutting their bills by 80-90%, and seeing battery payback periods that are years shorter than they would have been on flat tariffs.
The collective impact: Virtual Power Plants (VPPs)
When thousands of these smart, automated batteries are connected, they form what’s known as a Virtual Power Plant (VPP) - and this is where the bigger picture becomes even clearer.
Unlike traditional power plants, which are large, centralised, and fixed in one location, VPPs are highly decentralised. They aggregate the collective flexibility of thousands of small systems, responding in real-time to grid needs, shifting demand, reducing volatility, and lowering costs across the entire market.
In other words, they give ordinary households the power to directly participate in stabilising the energy system, and get financially rewarded for doing so.
At Amber, we’re proud to operate Australia’s largest residential VPP by capacity, with thousands of customer batteries actively supporting the grid and the transition to 100% renewables.
Batteries are unlocking the next phase of the transition
The bigger picture goes beyond individual households or even current VPPs. Batteries, and the flexible demand they enable, are critical to accelerating the transition in several key ways:
- Enabling more renewables: The more we can store and shift energy use, the easier it becomes to build new renewable projects and phase out fossil fuel generation.
- Reducing energy waste: Instead of curtailing solar during midday peaks, storage allows us to capture that excess and put it to better use.
- Lowering prices for everyone: By flattening demand peaks, batteries help reduce wholesale market volatility - benefiting both those with batteries and those without.
- Strengthening grid resilience: As climate-driven weather events increase, distributed batteries can provide crucial backup and stability during outages or supply disruptions.
- Paving the way for EVs and V2G: As electric vehicles become more common, their batteries will represent a huge new source of flexible storage, unlocking even greater potential for households and the grid alike.
Why this matters now
Australia’s energy market is evolving fast. Government programs like the Federal Cheaper Home Batteries Programme and state-based VPP rebates are making batteries more affordable. At the same time, real-time energy pricing and smarter automation are making it easier for households to unlock their full value, without needing to become experts themselves.
Batteries aren’t just a nice-to-have anymore. They’re becoming central to how households actively participate in (and financially benefit from) the clean energy transition.
The bottom line
The energy transition isn’t just happening on big transmission lines or in giant solar farms. Increasingly, it’s happening behind everyday household meters - on rooftops, in garages, and on apps.
Batteries are giving ordinary Australians the chance to take control of their energy, reduce their bills, support the grid, and accelerate the shift to renewables - all at the same time.
At Amber, that’s exactly the kind of customer-led energy future we’re building towards.
Get in touch to find out how your battery can help you take control of your energy and support the transition to renewables.
