Australians are no longer able to count on revenue generated from excess solar energy feeding into the grid, so they are turning to energy storage solutions to keep excess energy for themselves.
Falling by the wayside, Australia’s household solar feed-in tariff (FIT) schemes have entered their first wave of drastic reductions as around 63,000 households in South Australia feel the first pinch. [Disclosure: This is a sponsored post from Australian Solar Quotes.]
By the end of 2016, over 275,000 solar homeowners in South Australia, Victoria, and New South Wales will see their solar feed-in tariffs dropping by as much as 90 percent.
Declining FITs are Promoting Demand for Energy Storage
In September, South Australia’s FIT fell from AU$0.16/kWh to a minimum required payment of AU$0.068/kWh. Also by the new year, 67,000 solar homes in Victoria will see tariffs and net metering programs falling from AU$0.25/kWh to AU$0.05/kWh.
The biggest drop will hit around 146,000 solar customers in New South Wales. On 1 January 2017, current FITs from AU$0.60 to AU$0.20/kWh in New South Wales will fall to between AU$0.055 and AU$0.072.
Australian Solar Quotes (ASQ) CEO Darryn Van Hout notes that the previously generous FITs enabled many solar consumers to learn the basics of solar energy and PV technology.Scrapping the tariffs, says Darryn, has further promoted demand for energy storage systems.
“It’s definitely a trigger point for most consumers to look at this new technology,” says Van Hout. ASQ reports that it has seen “an increase in demand for quotes for storage batteries from buyers looking to save thousands of dollars on their bills, with the Australian market seeing around 300 homes come together to buy storage batteries at discounted rates.”
Van Hout adds, “many of the customers approaching ASQ have been solar customers coming off the New South Wales solar bonus scheme.”
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