Tasmanian homes to store solar energy and sell it to the grid

40 homes in Bruny Island will be equipped with solar panels, solar storage batteries and software to enable them to generate solar energy which can be stored and sold back to the grid.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency is set to spend $2.9 million on the project, which aims to reduce the pressure on the island's power system during peak times. The area faces these enormous spikes in demand for energy due to holidaymakers visiting the island.

Reposit's GridCredits software will be used to help sell the solar energy back to the grid, effectively automatically trading with the network. Combining this software with solar storage will give an added appeal to homeowners as they may be able to receive up to $1/kWh when the grid really needs the energy they have stored, as opposed to the 5.6c/kWh base price given usually for solar energy fed back into the grid.

Dean Spaccavento, a co-founder of Reposit Power commented on the scheme:

"The end game is to turn off coal," "The nice way to say it is to improve the operation of the electricity system, both in how it is run, and how solar and other renewables are injected into the grid. So the idea is to manage the system, keep prices low, ensure everyone has power when they need it, and allow greater penetration of renewables. Reposit Power's software is the glue that keeps the system together and ensures that customers are being paid properly for the electricity that the system is using."

Not only will the scheme benefit homeowners and hopefully reduce strain on Bruny Island's power source, it will also aid research at the University of Sydney, the University of Tasmania and the Australian National University. They will be able to use the information from the project to research the ideal size of solar storage system needed by households as well as how they should be paid for energy they sell back to the grid.