CleanTechnica: ["Battery Storage Boom Brings Free Electricity To Australia](https://cleantechnica.com/2026/06/01/battery-storage-boom-brings-free-electricity-to-australia/)." While solar panel prices fell rapidly a few years ago, it is only in recent years that batteries have become similarly affordable. "A large increase in the amount of battery energy storage systems \[BESS\] in Australia will permit some residential and small business owners to pay about 10% *less* for electricity in the coming year."

"Batteries have been displacing more expensive gas and hydro in the evenings, and we’ve just seen flatter prices through the whole day." In addition to the large number of new grid-scale BESS installations all across Australia, in the last year, more than 415,000 residential storage batteries have been added to Australian homes—roughly 1 battery for every 25 houses. “The role of gas used to be in the evening to meet the evening peak and that came at a cost, because gas is not a cheap fuel \[also, methane contributes about 30% of global warming\]. but more and more every day, it is batteries that are surging into the market at 6 pm,” Tennant Reed, the climate change and energy director for the Australian Industry Group, told *The Guardian*." 

Batteries are an essential component of renewable energy technology. They are what allow solar and wind power to be “dispatchable,” which, in the world of grid-scale electricity, means that when the need arises, electrons will be available. 'This gives the lie to the trope by fossil fuel apologists that the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow.' South Australia conducted an auction last week seeking suppliers for “firm power” to the SA grid. “Firm power” is how you say “dispatchable” if you speak Australian. *All* the low bids came from those who plan to use battery storage to provide that electricity. 

"Not a single low bid was from a thermal generation source." Count me as totally not surprised, perhaps even a big smug.

Residential Batteries & Australia