People power the solar revolution

That's a really lovely final paragraph, Francine. We had solar panels installed a few years ago and our electricity bill no longer makes us cringe. Solar batteries are quite expensive at the moment but hopefully their cost will fall and more and more people will be able to buy them.

I share your hope, Francine. Its not that hard to imagine having an energy policy in Australia that embraces renewal energy. Its a failure of political leadership and the care of future generations that a clear vision for Australia in so many ways does not exist. The failure in energy policy is just one of those failures and the body politic deserves better.

Great article, but. What is the cost of installing, maintaining and replacing these batteries and will pensioners and people on low wages be able to meet these costs? If all the poles and wires are removed what network can excess energy be fed into? Human nature being " human nature" a significant percentage of these batteries will eventually be dumped in the environment; taking into account the chemicals used in batteries are heavy metals which are toxic even in small quantities, how much damage will be done to the environment in the mining, refining and dumping of these metals? Look forward to some answers.

Another view. The ever-receding mirage of cheap renewables just faded from view MAURICE NEWMAN The Australian 12:00AM March 28, 2017 .... Germany is building 12 [coal] new plants. And, according to The Guardian, there is a likelihood that priority dispatch for clean energy will be scrapped from the EU’s 2020 renewable energy directive. Add to this the likely withdrawal of the US from the Paris climate agreement, China playing to the crowd but with no commitment until 2030, India’s caveat that signing was “in the context” of its development agenda, and you quickly realise that Paris was always a “good faith”, not a legally binding, exercise. Scientists fret about this. They know in today’s realpolitik the will to tackle climate change is weakening. It’s not only celebrities who see it as “kinda yesterday”. They also worry that global temperatures have recorded no measurable increase since 1998, despite human emissions increasing by a third. ..... NASA named 2014 the hottest year ever, but under pressure admitted it was “only 38 per cent sure”... http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/the-everreceding-mirage-of-cheap-renewables-just-faded-from-view/news-story/edb03a6b130109b688077ecb0d394f87

Hopefully the price of batteries will come down from $10k each, but a household needs 2 = $20k.

Other countries with far less sunlight than OZ now have solar base load 24/7 We can easily build the reflective mirror type power stations across the country with much excess power to sell to nearby asian countries.. the debate is a joke full of lies in OZ.

Thank you for your article expressing hopes for the future. Every panel installed, whether one uses the harvested energy or sells it back to the grid, displaces electricity generation, reducing CO2 emissions and tackling global warming. Batteries will reduce the energy imported from and exported to the grid. Regretfully, at present, to be grid-free, I estimate that I need a very large array to charge a 14kWh Powerwall II on a mid-winter day. (I am not ready to put a figure on the array size yet). But, a battery of such a size will run a well designed and constructed house for at least a day. What I do suggest is that people buy electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles and reduce petrol use. It saved me about $1,300 in the first year as I reduced petrol use by about 900L.

Rather than seeking to be 'grid-free', perhaps we need to 'take back the grid', to return it to the commonweal, where decisions about generation, storage and distribution are made with the common good, rather than a motley collection of narrow individual 'goods', in mind? And as the peak load on the grid diminished, perhaps we could replace all that ugly 19th century poles and wires technology with underground cables that would allow our streetscapes to be greened again

In response to Alice: These are myths or at best wishful thinking. The cooling myth is discussed here: https://skepticalscience.com/global-warming-stopped-in-1998.htm Reading the Australian article: The writer should check facts instead of creating more myths: Victoria is still a net exporter of electrical energy. See https://theconversation.com/closing-victorias-hazelwood-power-station-is-no-threat-to-electricity-supply-66024 The Australian is no longer a paper of record but only of emotion.

It all sounds rather elitist and individualistic to me. There is something rather egalitarian and selfless about us all mucking in together in a common grid and power generation system; especially when cheap, reliable and within Paris protocol. Over-reach for "renewables" seems to be proving highly destructive of the common good.

please get rid of the poles and bring on the possums. IT is weird I walked to work today and passed the Tesla head office - and it was very posh and you should of seen the cars- wowsa

The problem Eugene is that it's not our grid any more. Much of it is owned by overseas interests. Likewise the retailers who never touch the stuff but yet make obscene profits from buying at one price and selling at another without adding any value at all. Imagine if we handed distribution over to our local governments who could then use their greater purchasing power to buy in bulk and return the savings to us, the consumers, rather than to the myriad of retailers who serve no useful public purpose.

Wonderful optimism, Francine. However, like Brian Leeming, I draw attention to your hopes being overly simplistic> This is a case of many factors interacting here - technological, social, economic etc. What appears to be good for some (even many) individual householders will backlfire at a social level. Jyst what do you think will happen if all of even a given street goes off the grid and"the wires are cut/ dsconnected"? People on low incomes cannot afford to put on solar panels, even if the cost of them halves, let alone add batteriers. What if power is unavailable from solar for more than a day - or not enough of it? Are you aware of how long these batteries wil last before needing replacement? Are you aware of how much extra energy is needed to produce those batteries? are you aware that - contrary to statements by Mr Turnbull and Mr Frydenbereg and Mr Joyce, the snowy scheme does not produce base load power? Are you aware that pumped storage hydro requires more energy to pump up to the storage than we get out of it when the water flows down again. I know you were not talking about the Snowy proposal, but my point is there are many many interrelated issues involved here, and neither journalsts nor politicians know anything about the terchnology of the nation-wide system and think that noe of the public will know any more than them, hence they can say all kinds of rosy promises and hope that the next blackout can be blamed on the next party in power. The widespread privatisation has led to most issues being outside the direct control of governments. Meanwhile the diversity of technology in the system, not to mention the diversity of ownership (including foreign ownership).

"Our role in energy under this innovation has changed from us being consumers to possibly all being providers. Just as Uber disrupted taxis and Airbnb disrupted traditional hotel chains, so too will the Tesla battery change our relationships and transactions with energy" Yes - and this explains why the major mining companies and our governments are running scared at the moment - actively denigrating renewable energy and promoting "clean coal". Great article Francine - I too think "people power" will help to provide more homes for our possums!