Australians to get at least three hours a day of free solar power - even if they don’t have solar panels

Submitted ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨budget_biochemist@slrpnk.net⁩ to ⁨energy@slrpnk.net⁩

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/nov/03/australians-to-get-at-least-three-hours-a-day-of-free-solar-power-even-if-they-dont-have-solar-panels

Australian households in three states will be promised access to at least three hours a day of free solar power, regardless of whether they have rooftop panels, the federal government has announced.

The “solar sharer” offer will be available to homes with smart meters – which is the majority of homes – in New South Wales, south-east Queensland and South Australia from July next year, with other areas to potentially follow in 2027.

The government said Australians could schedule appliances such as washing machines, dishwashers and air conditioners and charge electric vehicles and household batteries during this time.

More coverage on the ABC: Energy retailers to be directed to offer free power three hours a day

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beeng@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Make a business that pumps water up hill for 3 hours and sell it back at night?

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- jaykrown@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  This works a lot better. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium-ion_battery
  
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  - beeng@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Says they’re good for 2-5 years for full daily cycling.
    
    Not bad not super… Pump and turbines still sounds more eco.
    
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- quoll@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  duckduckgo.com/?t=fpas&q=snowy+hydro+2.0&ia=web
  
  working on it, bazillion over budget and tbc years late.
  
  i think we have some smaller pumped hydro projects that aren’t a cluster fuck.
  
  batteries are just cheaper and less risky.
  
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  - beeng@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    But don’t last as long…
    
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Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I wonder if it’ll be worthwhile to buy a home battery even just to store the free energy. Could be a very interesting way to incentivise distributed storage especially with the home battery rebates.

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- budget_biochemist@slrpnk.net ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I think there will be more appliances that come with batteries built in too. There are already fridges and induction stoves that come with dual battery/mains power.
  
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budget_biochemist@slrpnk.net ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
PS: Australia wastes a lot of our renewable energy because of insufficient storage during the day. The data of our energy generation can be seen on OpenElectricity. The shaded section on top is the amount of renewables which are “curtailed” (turned off due to insufficient storage), and the little bit below the zero line is the amount that actually gets stored in batteries or pumped hydro.

Because coal power can’t turn on and off easily, we burn coal 24/7 for power and throw away 10% of our renewable generation. Hence this policy, to encourage more use during the day when we can use more renewable power. Some retailers have been already offering this as “happy hours” or “three for free” during the solar peak.

There are even a few retailers that vary their charges (pun intended) based on current (intended again) wholesale rates - because of all the excess solar, electricity through those providers is often completely free from 9-10am to 3-4pm.

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- Beacon@fedia.io ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Very cool!
  
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  - budget_biochemist@slrpnk.net ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    This link should show curtailment on](explore.openelectricity.org.au/energy/nem/?range=…). There should be a white-shaded bit at the very top (if not, click on the box on the left side under “Curtailment” and next to “Renewables”).
    
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