Towards net-zero energy neighbourhoods utilising high rates of residential photovoltaics with battery storage: a techno-economic analysis

This paper aims to evaluate the role of residential battery storage in addressing network barriers to the further adoption of household photovoltaics, by presenting a unique perspective combining a housing and network techno-economic evaluation. Stochasticity in demand and weather inputs are modelled using Monte Carlo and a power flow model is constructed of a test area of the low-voltage (LV) network. Findings include: that batteries address voltage drop issues on LV networks at photovoltaic penetration rates of 50% and over and can mitigate voltage rise issues at PV penetration rates up to 75%. Economically, under Queensland conditions, household gains are marginal with optimal results provided by charging batteries from photovoltaic generation only and a minimum array size of 5 kW.