WA Residential Battery Scheme
We're seeing more household batteries being installed across Western Australia – in the South West Interconnected System (SWIS), in the North West Interconnected System in the Pilbara and in our regional and rural communities. This increase is driven by the State Government’s WA Residential Battery Scheme, a $337 million initiative designed to make home battery storage accessible for eligible household through rebates and interest-free loans.
To find out more about the scheme, including how to apply, please visit the Energy Policy WA website here.
What is a residential battery?
A residential home battery stores electricity for later use. It does this by charging up when there is excess electricity (for example excess solar energy generated during the middle of the day when the sun is highest) and discharging energy later on when demand rises.
What is a Virtual Power Plant?
A Virtual Power Plant (VPP) connects, coordinates and stores the power generated by Distributed Energy Resources (DER) like household solar panels and batteries so it can be used to support the electricity needs of the community. Batteries delivered through the WA Residential Battery Scheme must participate in VPPs so that they can support smarter household energy use while also helping strengthen our energy systems.
How do residential batteries help me and my community?
By participating in a VPP, you can sell energy stored in your residential battery back to the market. This clever technology doesn't just deliver financial benefit for your household - it also helps balance energy supply and demand, redirecting clean solar energy so that it is available when it is needed most and making our energy systems stronger and more secure.
Household batteries and rooftop solar
Over 40% of homes in the SWIS have rooftop solar installed, underpinning over 2.5 gigawatts of distributed solar generation across the broader system. That's more than three times the generation capacity of the remaining State-owned coal power plants in Collie.
Now household batteries are helping unlock the full benefits of rooftop solar for WA by storing excess energy so it can be used when it's needed most. This doesn't just lower bills for individual households - it helps build modern, smart and resilient energy systems that benefit all Western Australians.