“At 6pm [on January 27], Victoria’s 17-year-old record for peak demand was broken by nearly 200 MW. But for us at AEMO, neither the new demand record nor the sweaty night were the most remarkable part of that day.

“It was the window into the future provided by households with new home batteries.”

Westerman says that despite most of these batteries operating in “passive mode” – that is, not orchestrated as part of a virtual power plant – at the time of peak demand, households with solar and storage were each drawing 1.4 kilowatts (kW) less that homes with solar only.

“That’s an 80% reduction during a record demand, and the impact of those batteries extends beyond the peaks,” he told the conference.

“In fact, on average, across the first quarter, households with batteries reduced the amount of energy they drew from the grid during the evening peak by nearly a kilowatt.” That suggests total peak reduction of nearly 600 MW from 600,000 households.

“That demand reduction the household directly through lower energy bills, and it benefits the wider energy system by reducing demand overall. That’s a win for consumers everywhere,” Westerman said.