A little more than one year ago, Australia rolled out a program to heavily subsidize home batteries, part of a larger effort to make use of the huge volumes of solar energy that were going to waste. On Friday, officials announced that more than 500,000 batteries had been installed under the plan, helping to slash wholesale power prices roughly in half.
Energy Minister Chris Bowen said that Australia now has more home batteries than the United States, which has a population 12 times larger. “This is a story of global significance that Australian households have achieved,” Bowen said in a press conference.
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With its home battery subsidy program, launched in July 2025, the government is aiming to help households use more solar energy by providing a 30 percent discount on residential battery systems connected to solar arrays.
The subsidy program has spurred a boom in installations. Australia is on track to more than double its home battery capacity this year, Bloomberg reports. The program has also been a boon to the grid. By relying on batteries in the early evening, when demand peaks, homeowners are reducing the need for utilities to fire up additional power plants during those hours, which is helping to lower costs for other ratepayers, officials say.
Very excited by the home battery boom, it's one of my goals for when I own a home. I'd love to get a decent amount of solar and batteries hooked up so I'm not beholden to the evil monopoly that is...
Very excited by the home battery boom, it's one of my goals for when I own a home. I'd love to get a decent amount of solar and batteries hooked up so I'm not beholden to the evil monopoly that is actively destroying my area and hiking my rates year after year.
Australia will be interesting to watch. It has three non-connected grids (one for eastern Australia and two in Western Australia) with minimal hydro and no nuclear. Right now the bulk of power is...
Australia will be interesting to watch. It has three non-connected grids (one for eastern Australia and two in Western Australia) with minimal hydro and no nuclear. Right now the bulk of power is provided by coal and gas. I’m curious to see if they will be able to decarbonize their grid without hydro or nuclear (as every other major industrial economy to do so has significant resources in one or both). They have a lot in their favor (great insolation, plenty of space for utility-scale PV and rooftop, it seems relatively easy to buy and install), but ultimately nobody has done it before.
A big thing they have going for them is that they're perfectly willing to import solar panels from China at cheap prices. Who knows if it will last, but they might as well take advantage of the...
A big thing they have going for them is that they're perfectly willing to import solar panels from China at cheap prices. Who knows if it will last, but they might as well take advantage of the opportunity while it's available.
China is Australia's largest trading partner by far, they're very dependant on them to buy their natural resources exports. They have no reason to stop taking advantage of those cheap panels. If...
China is Australia's largest trading partner by far, they're very dependant on them to buy their natural resources exports. They have no reason to stop taking advantage of those cheap panels. If trade relations between Aus and China soured, Australia would be in serious trouble.
Ive been keeping tabs on this and I’m no incredibly jealous that we cant have something similar for at least another few years in the US. I live out in the sticks and we lose power for whole days...
Ive been keeping tabs on this and I’m no incredibly jealous that we cant have something similar for at least another few years in the US.
I live out in the sticks and we lose power for whole days sometimes cause a tree fell down or someone drove into a power poll, it would be LIFE CHANGING to have home batteries be reasonably priced here.
Industry reporting suggests an 8% price drop of the battery packs themselves in 2025, to $108/kWh, part of a steady downward trend. (This is presumably US data; it's compared to China's 13% drop...
Industry reporting suggests an 8% price drop of the battery packs themselves in 2025, to $108/kWh, part of a steady downward trend. (This is presumably US data; it's compared to China's 13% drop to $84/kWh.)
I'm seeing a general price decline in per-watt quotes through at least 2021, but that trend may have somewhat reversed by 2023, possibly due to high demand. In 2024, prices apparently dropped, but rose slightly in 2025. National interest rates seem to have some effect too. The quotes I see online induce some skepticism: that there can be a $13k difference between battery packs of nearly equal size seems implausible; state-to-state, the price per kilowatt-hour supposedly differs by as much as $900+. The page offers various explanations.
But I found additional reporting that US residential batteries were installed in record numbers this year. Even if installation cost is flat, perhaps the relative cost savings are increasing due to high electricity prices.
Pretty much what the above poster said and I’ll add that most people in my area are incredibly poor and only own houses because they’re family homes passed down to them. Some people have bought...
Pretty much what the above poster said and I’ll add that most people in my area are incredibly poor and only own houses because they’re family homes passed down to them.
Some people have bought smaller solar batteries like those porch ones and those work for like your pc/ phones but something to power the well would cost thousands.
From the article:
[...]
Very excited by the home battery boom, it's one of my goals for when I own a home. I'd love to get a decent amount of solar and batteries hooked up so I'm not beholden to the evil monopoly that is actively destroying my area and hiking my rates year after year.
Australia will be interesting to watch. It has three non-connected grids (one for eastern Australia and two in Western Australia) with minimal hydro and no nuclear. Right now the bulk of power is provided by coal and gas. I’m curious to see if they will be able to decarbonize their grid without hydro or nuclear (as every other major industrial economy to do so has significant resources in one or both). They have a lot in their favor (great insolation, plenty of space for utility-scale PV and rooftop, it seems relatively easy to buy and install), but ultimately nobody has done it before.
A big thing they have going for them is that they're perfectly willing to import solar panels from China at cheap prices. Who knows if it will last, but they might as well take advantage of the opportunity while it's available.
Similarly for electric vehicles.
China is Australia's largest trading partner by far, they're very dependant on them to buy their natural resources exports. They have no reason to stop taking advantage of those cheap panels. If trade relations between Aus and China soured, Australia would be in serious trouble.
Ive been keeping tabs on this and I’m no incredibly jealous that we cant have something similar for at least another few years in the US.
I live out in the sticks and we lose power for whole days sometimes cause a tree fell down or someone drove into a power poll, it would be LIFE CHANGING to have home batteries be reasonably priced here.
I haven't looked, but aren't they getting cheaper?
Industry reporting suggests an 8% price drop of the battery packs themselves in 2025, to $108/kWh, part of a steady downward trend. (This is presumably US data; it's compared to China's 13% drop to $84/kWh.)
I'm seeing a general price decline in per-watt quotes through at least 2021, but that trend may have somewhat reversed by 2023, possibly due to high demand. In 2024, prices apparently dropped, but rose slightly in 2025. National interest rates seem to have some effect too. The quotes I see online induce some skepticism: that there can be a $13k difference between battery packs of nearly equal size seems implausible; state-to-state, the price per kilowatt-hour supposedly differs by as much as $900+. The page offers various explanations.
But I found additional reporting that US residential batteries were installed in record numbers this year. Even if installation cost is flat, perhaps the relative cost savings are increasing due to high electricity prices.
Pretty much what the above poster said and I’ll add that most people in my area are incredibly poor and only own houses because they’re family homes passed down to them.
Some people have bought smaller solar batteries like those porch ones and those work for like your pc/ phones but something to power the well would cost thousands.