A new electricity plan being trialled at Kurnell must be sending shivers down the spine of the investors who have risked their money as shareholders in the New South Wales electricity grid. Electricity is an essential and the ever rising charge to consumers promises good dividends provided the majority of homes draw power through the metered system.
Natural Solar is a company building a cluster of twelve three and four bedroom homes at Kurnell which will have solar on their roofs and batteries to store the excess solar power generated during the day. The unusual factor is that these batteries are inter-linked with the aim that nobody draws power from the grid and the cluster is self serving in its electricity needs
The thinking is that in such a cluster there will be a mix of how much each home uses and those linked batteries will even things out. This constitutes a vast difference between individual homes with both solar and a battery. That battery must be much larger to accommodate unexpected high demand while linked batteries even out the flow.
This plan involves a safety factor where a link to the grid exists so electricity will still flow if solar fails because of some weather phenomenon. It would be reasonable to expect that the charge would be above the normal level in such circumstances.
The more the price charged for electricity from the grid increases the more interested consumers become in the solar/battery mix that grants them independence. There is a very good chance that this idea will spread to existing clusters of homes. It would be fairly simple for adjoining homes to create a similar plan and enjoy freedom from electricity bills.
If that happens, there will certainly be winners - but with equal certainty there will be losers, and they will be the people who do not enter into pooled solar/battery schemes. The cost of electricity is not entirely governed by how it is generated. One of the biggest costs is the poles and wires that take it to every street in every suburb of the city. If even a small percentage of homes drops off the grid, the supply costs have to be met by those remaining on the grid.
The danger facing the grid is the ever lower cost of roof solar and the steadily increasing efficiency of large battery storage systems. The existing input from roof solar feeding back into the grid is starting to create an over supply problem in the heat of the day and the generating industry would be wise to consider battery storage to balance the economics of the night load.
The one thing the electricity industry can not do is to put off decisions and keep hiking the price of power. It is fast becoming evident that this solar/battery combination is now an economic reality and once a change away from the grid becomes a practical decision for households it will be unstoppable.
It has the power to destroy the economics of the grid !
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