For some time now, South Australians can participate in AGL’s Virtual Power Plant program which is a network of connected solar batteries that can be managed as one by AGL. This means AGL is given permission to manage your solar batteries in times of need, such as when the grid is strained and in need of emergency power.
But of course, joining the VPP will benefit you too. AGL will give you an extra $1,000 rebate of the Solar Battery installation (on top of the government rebate), plus taking care of the installation and claiming the rebate for you. You do need to be with AGL for the next 5 years, though you can leave anytime and just pay off the remaining $1,000 rebate.
And now, AGL VPP offer is up for grabs in Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland as well and I’m excited.
AGL General Manager Decentralised Energy Resources Dominique Van Den Berg said:
“Customers in Queensland, NSW and Victoria and will be able to buy Tesla batteries or LG Chem batteries with Solar Edge hardware at discounted prices if they join our VPP program.
“By joining AGL’s VPP program, customers receive payments for allowing AGL access to their batteries at key times during the year to help improve grid reliability, making the decision to invest in batteries more attractive.”
Being able to pay for the battery on a monthly basis is a good thing for sure, here. For the Tesla Powerwall 2, it will be AU$113 per month over a period of 60 months.
Is solar battery worth it though? I’m not so sure myself. From what I read, it is probably not, financially speaking. It still is costly and the return of investment will be in 10-20 years time or so. But then again, this depends on your usage and patterns at home so we can’t really say.
On the other side of the coin though, if you are interested in reducing your carbon footprint and using renewable energy, this is definitely a great offer. Besides, we don’t know if the Australian government is still going to offer the rebate in the future. Considering how much money they’ve spent for the economy during this COVID-19 crisis, they might stop the rebate program anytime soon.
Either way, I’ve registered my interest with AGL and see what happens.
To find out more about the program and costs, etc, make sure to visit AGL official page.
