The federal Labor Party has announced plans to supercharge the benefits of household solar by delivering a community battery for Richmond, if elected on May 21.
Labor's shadow minister for climate change and energy, Chris Bowen, announced the initiative last week with Keir Paterson, the federal Labor candidate for the seat of Melbourne.
While more than 650 households in the Richmond area have rooftop solar, just seven have registered a battery - meaning most households are not realising the full potential of rooftop panels, and putting more pressure on the electricity grid.
In addition, apartment numbers have grown in Richmond, and more than half of local residents are renters - meaning many cannot install solar for their dwellings.
Paterson said Labor's commitment would allow local solar households to feed power into the shared battery during the day and draw from it at night - cutting electricity bills and emissions and reducing pressure on the grid.
