Grid seeking batteries

There’s nothing like an energy crisis to bring things into sharp focus. Thanks to Australia’s reliance on fossil fuels, our ageing coal fired generators and the behaviour of those who run them, we’re now seeing record high wholesale energy prices in a country where renewable energy should be king.

Rather than see the cost of this crisis pass through to Aussie households, we've seen how harnessing the power of home battery storage can quickly move to 100% renewables and reduce energy costs for everyone.

While battery automation technology is available today that would allow these solar home batteries to discharge excess energy to the grid, it's estimated only around 15% of battery owners are using it.

Our campaign is a call to arms for Australia’s 150,000 current Aussie owners to start using this automation, so we can automatically discharge them into the grid at peak times, stabilising the grid, reducing energy prices for everyone, and displacing fossil fuels with renewables.

We understand home battery uptake in Australia is still low. But wholesale prices are high for everyone who uses energy, driving super profits to fossil fuel generators.

By enabling current battery owners to put more renewables into the grid today, and encouraging the 3 million households who own solar to get a battery and do the same in the near future, we can make energy cheaper and greener for everyone.

How? Three ways:

- Reduce overall reliance on expensive coal and gas in the energy system, as more renewable energy flows in

- Less market power for fossil fuel generators to influence prices too, as more energy generators step up to put power into the grid

- Cash for battery owners' energy exports offset their energy bills

We estimate that if all 3 million homes with solar and no battery got a battery and exported to the grid during peak hours, we could send an additional 15 GW of renewable power into the grid.

That would mean:

- At least 50% of Australia’s peak demand being met by renewables

- The equivalent of 60 gas fired power plants the size of the Quarantine Power station in SA being displaced.

And an even bigger impact on lowering the energy costs of Aussies everywhere (solar, battery, or not!). Because renewable energy is the cheapest form of energy out there.

It would also shift millions of dollars that would otherwise go to paying coal and gas generators for their power, into the pockets of energy-generating Aussies everywhere.

If you have solar and would like to buy a battery, we can help. Shoot us your details here and we'll be in touch with info on how you can get a free quote for a battery at a competitive price.

If you’re already in a virtual power plant (VPP), your battery is already being automated to support the grid, by sending more renewable energy into the system at peak time.

But depending on which VPP provider you’re with, the value being generated by your battery is often going to one of the big coal and gas companies. Not only that, Amber SmartShift is the only VPP that passes on the full financial upside of exporting your energy into the wholesale electricity market, rather than taking a cut of the value you generate like most VPP providers.

SmartShift optimises solar batteries to charge from the grid when energy is greenest and price are lowest, and export to the grid when demand is peaking and prices are highest. SmartShift also offers the most control of any battery optimisation technology, with charge, discharge, and preserve battery mode - as well as the ability to switch SmartShift off completely.

If you’d like to learn more about how SmartShift can reduce your energy bills whilst helping solve climate change, reach out to us at smartshift@amber.com.au, or you can sign up here.

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