What started as a bet on social media has turned into one of the most unexpected problems facing the renewable energy transition. Back in 2017, Australia faced a series of storms that exposed critical weaknesses in its fossil fuel-dependent power infrastructure. Tesla CEO Elon Musk then claimed on Twitter he could solve the problem within 100 days, pledging that if his company could not meet this deadline, the work would be free of charge.
Ultimately, Tesla delivered on this promise. Within that 100-day timeframe, the company installed the world’s largest lithium-ion battery in south Australia, demonstrating the viability of large-scale renewable energy storage solutions. This breakthrough played a pivotal role in igniting a solar power boom across the nation.
Since then, solar energy has flourished in Australia. Today, approximately 1 in 3 homes in the country generate electricity from solar panels, totaling over 3.5 million residences. On a per capita basis, Australia has become a global leader in installed solar systems.
However, this rapid growth and the resulting abundance of solar energy has, at times, led to supply exceeding demand.
Initially, solar panel owners were encouraged to sell excess electricity back to the grid, contributing to the overall energy supply, but as more homes adopted solar power, the grid became overwhelmed by the sheer volume of energy being fed into it.
In response, energy providers introduced a tax on solar panel owners producing more electricity than the grid can handle.
To better manage the influx of solar power, Australia is now revisiting the technology that jumpstarted its green energy revolution. The country plans to bring several additional large-scale battery storage facilities online by 2025, with more projects in the pipeline. Experts predict that Australia’s storage capacity will need to expand by as much as 14-fold by 2050 to accommodate the growing demand for renewable energy storage.
