{"id":655751,"date":"2026-05-07T15:18:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T15:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/655751\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T15:18:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T15:18:11","slug":"blows-your-mind-regulator-says-boom-in-home-batteries-and-pv-puts-82-pct-renewables-within-reach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/655751\/","title":{"rendered":"“Blows your mind:” Regulator says boom in home batteries and PV puts 82 pct renewables within reach"},"content":{"rendered":"

The unexpected boom in home batteries and the equally surprising surge in rooftop solar installations means that Australia\u2019s target of 82 per cent renewables by 2030 \u2013 long dismissed as a lost cause by some \u2013 is now very much within reach.<\/p>\n

That, at least, is the view of the Clean Energy Regulator executive general manager Carl Binning, who says that the massive investment by households in rooftop PV and batteries reduces the burden on large scale wind and solar to deliver on the 2030 target.<\/p>\n

Some analysts have said that the renewables target is well out of reach because of the delay in grid scale renewables, particularly wind energy. <\/p>\n

The most pessimistic put the likely renewable share by 2030 at less than 60 per cent, although federal energy minister Chris Bowen has always insisted that the target is still doable, although hard.<\/p>\n

Binning, however, says the surge in rooftop installs and home batteries, boosted by the federal rebate, has stunned everyone, including the industry itself, and offered a new avenue to that 82 per cent target.<\/p>\n

The Australian Energy Market Operator\u2019s Integrated System Plan assumes another 28 gigawatts of large scale renewables is needed to meet the federal target, a little under 10 GW of additional rooftop solar, and about 5 gigawatt hours (GWh) of home storage.<\/p>\n

Billing says home battery storage is already at 11 GWh, and heading for 40 GWh, eight times the ISP assumptions. And the record 441 megawatts (MW) of rooftop solar added in the month of April points to an annual run rate of around 4 GW. Even if it were 3 GW, that still would beat the ISP assumptions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we take stock of this, we can start to see the finish line, and a couple of ways to get there. That is super exciting,\u201d Billing told the Smart Energy 2026 conference on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Billing said that those numbers suggest a requirement of less than 20 GW of large scale wind and solar, which is requires an installation rate \u201cjust a little more\u201d than the current 4 GW. <\/p>\n

And he notes that there is at least 28 GW that the CER is tracking \u201cin the system\u201d, although much of it has yet to reach financial close or begin construction. <\/p>\n

He acknowledges that investors are finding it hard to get projects across the line, an issue highlighted by David Leitch, ITK principal and the co-host of Renew Economy\u2019s Energy Insiders podcast, who questions whether Australia can maintain even 4 GW a year without changes to the Capacity Investment Scheme.<\/p>\n

See Leitch\u2019s analysis here: The spot mirage: Low wholesale prices show the future, but are a poor signal for new wind and solar<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I am saying is that it looks plausible now. It doesn\u2019t look like a super stretch target,\u201d Billing said. \u201cThe amazing thing about small scale is how flexible and fast it is. Eleven gigawatt hours (of home batteries) in 12 months just blows your mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Billing said that the CER had received more than 70,000 home battery applications in the month of April, and more than 20,000 in the last week. <\/p>\n

(The country\u2019s biggest installer (in terms of storage capacity), Fox ESS, says it installed 25,000 systems in the month of April alone,<\/a> and sees little slowing in demand, even after the rebate changes).<\/p>\n

Billing also thinks demand for both rooftop PV and home batteries will continue to grow. The 381,000 home batteries that have been installed since last July just scratches the surface of the nation\u2019s 4.2 million households, and many of these have small systems that they will want to upgrade.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is massive upside in coming years,\u201d Billing said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just cheaper, reliable energy, it is a sense of control in a rapidly changing world. It is a lay-down mazaire.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, beyond 2030, Billing says \u201cwe are going to need everything\u201d \u2013 big and small scale \u2013 as the passenger car fleet and households and industries electrify. \u201cIt is not a question of whether small scale will eat large scale\u2019s lunch, it is how they work with each other.<\/p>\n

The Clean Energy Council CEO highlighted the issues confronting investors in large scale developments \u2013 transmission, market signals, and social licence, an issue fuelled by the misinformation and disinformation highlighted in the recent Senate inquiry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe longer we coal fired power stations like Eraring open, the less that (wind and solar) projects are investible,\u201d Trad said. \u201cThey are competing with coal in a parallel system. We are going to find the pace very hard in terms of large scale projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you would like to join more than 29,000 others and get the latest clean energy news delivered straight to your inbox, for free, please\u00a0click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you wish to support independent media, and accurate information, please consider making a one off donation or becoming a regular supporter of Renew Economy. Please click here. Your support is invaluable.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Giles Parkinson is founder and editor-in-chief of Renew Economy<\/a>, and founder and editor of its EV-focused sister site The Driven<\/a>. He is the co-host of the weekly Energy Insiders Podcast<\/a>. Giles has been a journalist for more than 40 years and is a former deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review. You can find him on LinkedIn and on Twitter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The unexpected boom in home batteries and the equally surprising surge in rooftop solar installations means that Australia\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[952,43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-655751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-featured","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=655751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}