Budget Boost For Home Batteries ‘Made In WA’

Amid some backlash over its re-jiggered rebate, Western Australia’s Cook Government’s Budget 2025/26 has earmarked tens of millions of dollars to support a local home battery manufacturing industry.

With launch of the state’s rebate scheme imminent, Premier Cook wants to see some of the home batteries installed under the program ‘Made In WA’, and is backing industry with a $50 million Local Battery Manufacturing Program providing direct grants and low-interest loans.

Under the Program, eligible WA battery manufacturers¹ will be able to access a $30 million grants program to grow manufacturing capacity and provide competitive residential battery products — not just to local, but also international markets. The grants will need to be matched dollar for dollar by the manufacturer/proponent.

The package also involves $20 million for low-interest loans, or the State Government providing land to encourage the industry to make major new technology and facility investments.

“Most local manufacturers are focused on commercial and regional or remote battery technologies, and have expressed strong interest in scaling up residential battery manufacturing when the market becomes stronger,” says the WA Government.

Much of the important detail is yet to be announced; such as what will constitute being “Made In WA” — it could be as simple as partial local assembly — and when this initiative will officially roll out.

The Local Battery Manufacturing Program is only part of the Cook Government’s Made in WA plan. Overall, $2.7 billion is being injected into the initiative under Budget 2025/26.

“Building batteries here in Western Australia was a key part of the Made in WA plan my government took to the election,” said Premier Cook. “It will support our nation-leading battery rebates, which in turn will secure our clean energy future and provide long-term, sustainable cost-of-living relief to tens of thousands of households throughout WA.”

WA Home Battery Rebate Rebellion

Some would argue that more generous battery rebate rates were also something else the Cook Government took into the election and then back-flipped on.

While the upcoming scheme was recently expanded to support up to five times the number of rebates previously (~20,000 -> ~100,000), maximum rebate value was slashed from up to $5,000 for Synergy customers to up to $1,300; and from up to $7,500 for Horizon Power customers to up to $3,800.

Another major change was in relation to a previous requirement that eligible solar batteries would just need to be Virtual Power Plant (VPP) capable. This has been tightened up to requiring those receiving states rebates to join a VPP.

However, the “stackability” of WA’s initiative with the national Cheaper Home Batteries program has been confirmed, as have interest-free loans up to $10,000 for households with combined annual incomes of under $210,000.

Premier Cook mightn’t be the most popular person among some Western Australian solar power system owners at the moment judging by comments on our blog post regarding changes to WA’s battery rebate. It saw a few comments from purchasers and potential buyers feeling misled.

Among those balancing criticism of the Cook Government’s move, SolarQuotes’ Anthony Bennett commented:

“For the same state government spend there’s now going to be about 5 times more people eligible, 5 times more leverage of private investment and that equates to perhaps 10 times the impact in terms of grid resilience, because it’s the first 5kWh that makes the most difference to peak demand and thus grid costs.” Anthony said. “80,000 more batteries will make a MASSIVE dent in demand and equally be able to soak up otherwise wasted renewable capacity.”

While Anthony mentions 5 kWh, the maximum state rebate levels are for 10 kWh systems, with 5 kWh being the minimum capacity. The scheme is still missing some important detail though, including a list of eligible batteries and suppliers/installers — and with just over a week to go until kick-off.

SolarQuotes is keeping a close eye on developments. You can get all the latest information on the WA Residential Battery Scheme rebate here, or sign up to our weekly newsletter to stay updated.