Australia is one of the most attractive solar markets in the world, while Panasonic is targeting at selling its integrated solar solution, especially energy storage system, in the nation starting from this October.
In Australia, there are already 1.4 million homes installing solar panels on their rooftops. The ratio of residential solar systems installation is higher than any other countries around the globe. Australians show strong intention to reducing electricity bills as well as their reliance on the electricity grid, and this disposition leads the nation to be one of the most potential markets.
So far, the cumulative solar installation in Australia is approximately 3GW. EnergyTrend learns that the Australian government aims to increase its nationwide power output from renewable resources up to 33,000GWh per year by 2020, while the solar installation would be raise to totaling 7-8GW. This translates into approximately 1GW of annual solar system demand over the following 4-5 years.
Bloomberg reports that Panasonic will begin selling energy storage systems in Australia to take advantage of the proliferation of solar panels atop rooftops of homes. A feasibility study is now being conducted with Australian power companies such as ActewAGL and Red Energy, and sales will begin in October after the study is completed. Panasonic plans to sell its products to utilities instead of directly sell to end-users.
Katsufumi Miyamato, an official at Panasonic in charge of the project, told Bloomber that Panasonic has been exploring ways to work with Australian power companies in order to balance the solar installations and grid maintenance. Panasonic’s solution is, like Tesla’s latest product, lithium-ion batteries.
Customers who utilize Panasonic’s energy storage systems can store excessive electricity generated from the solar panels during the sunny day and use the stored power for nights or when in bad weather. Furthermore, Panasonic’s batteries will also work as a back-up power system. The entrance into Australia is a part of Panasonic’s 10 billion yen (approx. US$80 million) of home-focused energy storage systems sales outside Japan by FY 2018.
In addition, the energy storage systems will be also available in New Zealand for residential use, writes Bloomberg.