About Ronald BrakelsJoining SolarQuotes in 2015, Ronald has a knack for reading those tediously long documents put out by solar manufacturers and translating their contents into something consumers might find interesting. Master of heavily researched deep-dive blog posts, his relentless consumer advocacy has ruffled more than a few manufacturer's feathers over the years. Read Ronald's full bio.
Thanks to the federal battery rebate and multiple state incentives, many new battery owners will soon be wondering if they should join a Virtual Power Plant (VPP). While the pros can make it worthwhile, you have to look out for a huge list of cons before signing up.
Today’s a big day for Virtual Power Plants (VPPs): a federal rebate for VPP-capable batteries is coming online, while two states are offering incentives that require joining one. So why are multiple layers of government teaming up to tempt you into handing over control of your battery to a VPP operator, and should you take the bait?
The “Australians for Natural Gas” group has today been reported to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for allegedly misleading claims. I’ve looked into this group and found it is spreading a number of false messages on social media, including that gas is an “efficient” source of power and that Australians would struggle to feed themselves or heat their homes without it.
A group called “Mums for Nuclear” has spent a lot of money on newspaper and online ads in the lead-up to the federal election, claiming that “Nuclear energy in the mix with renewables reduces cost by 25%“. I’ve investigated this claim and found it to be false. Hopefully, this will prompt all groups that have made unrealistic claims about nuclear affordability to take them back and spark a chain retraction.
There’s a lot of conflicting claims out there about whether getting off gas is worth it financially. I’ve taken a deeper look at how much money Australian households could actually save by quitting gas, and the amount will make your head spin worse than a leaky stovetop.
Finnish company Peikkovoima held its Australian launch of a revolutionary new form of home hot water in Adelaide last night. Using a process called geological decomposition, the company promises their system will provide household hot water in a way that’s environmentally benign and affordable.
The bad news is out. Grid electricity price hikes are coming and likely to hit hardest in NSW, where bills are set to spike by up to 8.9%. With more financial pressure looming, many NSW homeowners are asking: “Is now the time to get solar and a battery?”
Hot water heat pump systems are great for saving energy, but there’s a major problem dogging them like an overly friendly labrador that has been rolling in fish guts. Most warranties stink! I can only think of four brands commonly sold in Australia with warranties I consider close to acceptable.
Switching from gas to an all-electric home can save hundreds of dollars a year, but if you’re not careful you risk copping some hefty fees. There’s one big decision to make that determines how much you will be out of pocket: should you abolish your gas connection or just disconnect it?
Image: GloBird
Update 24th Feb 2025: I mistakenly wrote that the Globird Zerohero VPP allows a household to use up to 0.3kWh of grid electricity during the two hour Zerohero peak and still receive a $1 credit. But the actual figure GloBird gives is 0.03kWh per hour. This makes for a total of 0.06kWh over the two hour period. This figure is low and has the potential to make it difficult for battery households to claim the $1 credit because it’s normal for battery households to still draw a small amount of power from the grid even if they never exceed their battery’s continuous power output. I called GloBird but wasn’t able to talk to anyone who knew details about the VPP. I have sent them an email and, hopefully, they will respond to it. Until I get clarification from Glowbird, I can’t recommend using their Zerohero VPP as it may be difficult for households to take advantage of one of its major benefits.
Update 3rd March 2025: GloBird have responded and said, for the batteries they have tested, households are able to get through the two hour Zerohero evening peak without exceeding the 0.03kWh per hour grid electricity consumption limit, so are able to receive the $1 credit. They also sent some bill information on four households showing this. However, this information was all from summer when small amounts of solar generation during the peak period could have helped the households avoid the 0.03kWh per hour limit. Until we receive information showing homes can receive the $1 Zerohero credit outside of summer, I recommend assuming you won’t get it any time your solar system isn’t producing a small amount of energy during the second half of the Zerohero evening peak. I have placed the bill information at the end of the post.
I’ve looked into the pros and cons of a range of Virtual Power Plants, and so far, I haven’t been impressed. But GloBird Energy’s Zerohero VPP stands out as the best of a bad bunch. Rather than providing inadequately meagre payments — so long as you have a suitable battery and electricity consumption patterns — its payments have the potential to be adequately meagre.
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