Mr Purcell admits he initially bought his battery as a form of insurance against the volatility inherent in the spot market.
However, his thinking quickly changed when he saw the opportunities on offer, describing one instance in which he was able to fill up his 10-kilowatt-hour battery with electricity costing 1 cent per unit.
"That's the opportunity and the risk on the very low prices," he said.
"It cost me 10 cents to fill the battery during the middle of the day.
"And then at night-time the price went up over $10 a kilowatt hour, so I was able to export that same 10 kilowatts out of that battery for $100."
Pretty soon this won't be possible.
Because the 'free market' will adjust.
I dont think its actually possible now. You can download the amber electric app now if you want it, and monitor the prices.
Its true that the prices can go very low or negative during the day, but if you have solar, that is when your producing anyway, so your excess power gets exported for basically nothing. If your solar is having a bad day (cloudly/rainy/whatever), then everyone elses solar will be as well, and the spot price will be high anyway.
If you fill your battery at 1c, and then export it back at $10, your electricity costs are $10 per kw, so if you end up using more you'll very rapidly eat away all your profits. So you have to live like a hermit when your battery runs out.
I think this article is just an ad for Amber electricity, there is no evidence of the $10k savings, so I think its just bullshit.
eh, depends.
I mean our solar rig generates on average 3x our daily usage. (No battery as of yet, working towards it). So a big enough battery could quite easily give us the means to store and resell as well as cover night usage in the warmer months.
I can imagine this becoming a full time job itself, just to make sure you don’t get absolutely mauled when the spot price goes through the roof.
If you have a big enough battery you can both use and still export enough to make a significant profit. And for some "living like a hermit" at night isn't really a big deal, especially since it's only a few hours.
But yeah, it is complicated enough that most people won't bother and there is always some amount of risk from being exposed to wholesale prices.
How big a battery do you suggest? I have a 10kWh battery, and its really not enough, especially if the bad weather continues a few days in a row. It wasnt cheap either, and going bigger would only set myself back further.
I guess it depends on your usage, but I don't really use much more than that for an entire 24 hours so I could see that working for myself (but I'm not a home owner).
But yeah, you indirectly make a point that just buying the battery is pretty expensive and might not come out in your favour (even with wholesale plans). Hopefully they continue to come down in price, and EV vehicle to home and vehicle to grid finally happens.
Vehicle to home should be a huge game changer. I dont need a new car right now, which is why i bought a 10kwh battery, but a car can be 5-7x that capacity. Next car will definitely have v2h, i wont even consider anything that doesnt support it.
