Household solar is transforming Australia’s energy system, but UNSW expert Associate Professor Anna Bruce says there is a challenge to make sure the advantages are equitable.
Australia’s love affair with rooftop solar shows little sign of slowing down.
More than 35% of Australian households already have a photovoltaic (PV) system, and as that number continues to grow many are now adding batteries to store their own generated electricity for later use.
For households that can afford the upfront investment, the attractions are clear: lower electricity bills, greater independence from energy companies and, in some cases, backup power during a blackout.
But as solar and batteries become an increasingly important part of Australia’s electricity system, a question of fairness is emerging: who gets to benefit from the transition to home energy systems – and who doesn’t?
UNSW energy expert Associate Professor Anna Bruce says this is an issue policymakers and energy consumer advocates are increasingly concerned about.
“Households are saving a lot of money with solar and batteries, and many are interested in becoming more independent from electricity companies and increasing their resilience,” she said on the latest episode of the Engineering the Future podcast series.
“But overall, these home solar and battery systems are also a really important part of our energy transition because they can reduce the amount that we need to invest in large-scale generation and transmission and therefore reduce the cost of electricity for all consumers.”
Benefits not equally accessible
The rapid growth of rooftop solar has helped turn Australian households from passive consumers of electricity into participants in the energy system.
Solar panels generate electricity, while batteries can store excess solar energy and make it available when the sun isn’t shining. Collectively, these household systems can also provide flexibility to the electricity grid, helping manage supply and demand.
But access to those benefits is not evenly distributed.
For someone living in a freestanding house they own, installing solar panels can be relatively straightforward. For renters, the decision may depend on a landlord. And for people living in apartments, there may simply be no individual roof on which to install a solar system.
“This is a big concern and policymakers and energy consumer advocates are very concerned about this equity issue that’s emerging, because renters and apartment residents find it difficult to access the benefits of consumer energy resources,” A/Prof. Bruce says.
That creates a potential divide between households that can invest in solar and batteries and those that cannot.
“Those customers with solar and batteries can potentially reduce their bills to zero or near zero. The implication then is that other customers need to pay more to cover the cost of providing the grid.”
The issue is not simply that some households miss out on cheaper electricity. The electricity grid still needs to be maintained and paid for, even when households with solar and batteries are buying less electricity from it.
Solar households help everyone
There is a danger, however, in viewing the issue as simply a case of households with solar benefiting at the expense of everyone else.
A/Prof. Bruce stresses that households with solar and batteries are also providing significant benefits to the wider electricity system.
“It is really important to recognise the contribution of those households that do have consumer energy resources and the value that they’re provide.”
Household solar helps reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by increasing the amount of renewable electricity available. Batteries can provide another benefit by storing electricity when it is abundant and making it available when it is more valuable to the grid.
“Solar and batteries are reducing emissions on behalf of all Australians, but also reducing electricity prices as those batteries provide additional flexibility and help manage the grid.
“So there is a balance. We do need to incentivise households and businesses to continue to invest in consumer energy resources, but we also need to address these equity issues.”
Making apartments part of the energy transition
One potential solution is to make it easier for people living in apartments and rental properties to participate in the emerging home energy system.
A/Prof. Bruce says governments, planners and developers need to think about solar, batteries and electric vehicle charging when apartments are designed and built, rather than trying to retrofit these technologies later.
“We need to focus on how we can overcome the barriers in rentals and apartments so that there are opportunities to get as much solar and batteries and electric vehicle charging into apartments,” she says.
“There are plug-in solar panels now available in Europe and USA that people in apartments can use, but they’re actually not available in Australia at the moment. You can’t legally buy or use plugin solar here in Australia right now.”
She points to measures such as building requirements that future-proof apartments for consumer energy resources, as well as greater disclosure of a building’s energy performance to prospective renters and buyers.
In addition to the important equity issue, the Engineering the Future of Energy in the Home podcast episode also features a discussion about virtual power plants, the changing electricity grid and what our homes could look like 20 or 30 years from now as Australia moves towards a fully electric future.
“Gas will no longer exist,” she says. “We will be fully electric and pretty much all roofs will be covered in solar. Perhaps standard roofing materials might actually be solar generators in the future.
“Key devices such as PV, batteries, electric vehicle charging, and hot water are likely to be controlled and optimised in terms of their operation, although I’m not sure that households will really want to have other loads being controlled.”
