According to a report from the ABC, South Australia (SA) has launched the third phase of its SA Housing VPP, touted the world’s biggest VPP, which will see 3,000 Housing SA homes receive a 5 kWp rooftop solar installation along with a 13.5 kWh Tesla Powerwall.
Now the program is being expanded to allow for low-income SA households not suitable for solar to participate in the Tesla battery scheme. Of course, SA’s problem is now an oversupply of solar at certain times of the day, so the more batteries in the system, the more that supply can be spread out.
The ABC reports that SA Energy Minister Dan van Holst Pellekaan is trialling this variant scheme in which 20 housing trust homes that were not suitable for solar (perhaps because of tree shading, or a rooftop facing in sub-par direction, or the roof itself being structurally unsuitable for solar), will now be offered a free Tesla battery.
The ABC spoke to one Munno Para resident who had was not able to participate in the solar VPP but took the offer of the Tesla battery and reckons her participation in the VPP scheme has made a “big change” in her energy bills.
The existing scheme has also been expanded from the original 3,000 to a total of 4,100, which still leaves a lot to be desired for the original VPP dream of 50,000.
Minister van Holst Pellekaan wants to stress that even having a battery without solar can contribute savings when participating in the VPP scheme. “We can find that a battery alone, as part of the Tesla VPP, can still deliver 29% savings on electricity prices that other housing trust and public housing homes are receiving,” he told the ABC.
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