The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) will fund an Australian performance standard for residential and small-commercial battery systems, to better inform customers when they’re purchasing batteries for photovoltaic solar systems.
ARENA announced $1.4 million in funding to develop the $3.12 million project, led by project partner DNV GL. The project will analyse Australian and international battery performance testing, and consult with stakeholders in order to come up with a proposed Australian Battery Performance Standard. This will initiate the formal standard development process with Standards Australia.
The battery standard is intended to cover battery systems ranging from residential to small commercial systems, with an estimated maximum sizeof 100kW peak power and 200kWh stored energy, connected to a solar PV system.
ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht said a performance standard for home batteries will help Australian consumers decide what’s best for them.
“The difficulty for consumers to make a well-informed choice presents a barrier to uptake of battery storage,” he said.
“This project will give consumers a more informed choice and increased confidence in deciding to invest in home batteries and rooftop solar. This project will give people easy to access information on how reliable the batteries are and how well they perform over their lifetime in Australian conditions,” Mr Frischknecht said.
Lucy Craig, Vice-President Technology and Innovation for Energy at DNV GL, believes the project will help to create a sustainable energy storage market in Australia.
“Energy storage is a vital component in the transition to a greener energy future, and through efforts of providing the industry with performance standards, we are supporting the safe and sustainable development of the energy storage sector.” Ms Craig said.
The project has also received $500,000 in funding from the Victorian Government and will be a collaborative effort with input from Deakin University, CSIRO and the Smart Energy Council.
