Power to the people: Evolutionary market pressures from residential PV battery investments in Australia

Abstract

Falling costs of solar PV and battery technologies are continuously changing the customer relationship with their electricity network. By managing their own self-generation, customers are able to place natural selection pressure on utilities to evolve. The devised techno-economic simulation model projects residential PV and battery investment decisions over 20 years in Perth, Australia to quantify the potential market impacts from policy and customer investment conditions. Using real-world demand and insolation profiles from 261 households, this research evaluates how cumulative customer PV and battery investments changes the network and market operating conditions, while under the influence..