Like much of the country, WA is embracing rooftop solar with breathtaking gusto. But the state's position as the world's biggest island grid is posing a unique problem with authorities asking the question — how much solar is too much solar?
Solar power is a remarkable success in Australian households, but huge progress brings its own set of challenges for the existing energy grid.
"And that was just for a 1.5 kilowatt system, which is about a third of the size of what people buy nowadays … and they pay $5,000 for it."Officially, according to the Clean Energy Regulator, there were 507,862 solar installations on WA homes and businesses as of June 30.Nationally, almost four million households and businesses have solar panels.
She said WA's isolation meant it was having to find answers to those questions much sooner than almost anywhere else in the world."We don't have the ability to borrow from our neighbours, or indeed, to give them the benefit of our excess supply at times when we have it," Ms Ryan said. Ms Ryan said solar power was a "tremendous" opportunity for the energy system because it was so cheap and Australia was so sunny.
But there are calls for smaller batteries to help soak up the excess solar power in the middle of the day. While load shedding – or rolling blackouts – was the most extreme of these, he said others were almost as unpopular with solar households. Mr Whitby said batteries were still relatively expensive, and would be unaffordable for many people even with the subsidies.
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