{"id":423296,"date":"2026-01-26T18:20:56","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T17:20:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=423296"},"modified":"2026-01-26T18:20:59","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T17:20:59","slug":"australians-to-receive-free-midday-grid-solar-power-but-dont-charge-your-ev","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=423296","title":{"rendered":"Australians to Receive Free Midday Grid Solar Power \u2013 But Don\u2019t Charge your EV"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Australia’s high solar penetration often leads to excess midday power, sometimes resulting in negative wholesale prices or curtailment (wasted solar output). To utilize this better and share benefits more equitably (including with renters or non-solar households), the government is mandating that electricity retailers offer plans with at least 3 hours of free electricity daily, typically around midday (e.g., 11am\u20132pm or similar windows when solar output peaks).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Electrical<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Essay by<\/strong> Eric Worrall<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

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h\/t Observa<\/a> \u2013 Happy exploding transformer day: \u201c\u2026 very high levels of consumption during the free-power period \u2026 may lead to increases in network costs. \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Shared solar: Labor\u2019s \u201cfree power\u201d plan to have daily cap to stop abuse by EV and home battery owners<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Giles Parkinson<\/a>
Jan 23, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any thoughts that Labor\u2019s proposed Solar share offer would deliver unlimited free power to fill their EVs and home batteries have been dashed, with the federal government proposing a 24 kilowatt hour cap.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Federal energy minister Chris Bowen wants retailers to be required to offer three hours of free power to customers, enabling households who do not have access to their own rooftop solar to share in the benefits of the solar surplus that regularly pushes wholesale electricity prices below zero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there are caveats. Among the six proposed \u201cguidelines\u201d for the Australian Energy Regulator to consider as it weighs up the design of the scheme, the government proposes a \u201creasonable use\u201d criterion that would cap the daily consumption of free power to 24 kWh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Submissions also highlighted that, in the absence of specific safeguards, very high levels of consumption during the free-power period could create localised network impacts that may lead to increases in network costs.

\u2026Read more: https:\/\/reneweconomy.com.au\/shared-solar-labors-free-power-plan-to-have-daily-cap-to-stop-abuse-by-ev-and-home-battery-owners\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

You couldn\u2019t make this up. If say half or even a quarter of the population took up this offer, supplying those people would require concentrating an entire day\u2019s worth of electricity into a few hours. No existing grid could take that kind of load.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Entire suburbs would black out as overload breakers tripped. If you are lucky. Otherwise, you might lose a few transformers and power lines, along with anyone unlucky enough to be walking underneath when the grid started falling apart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s hope the government finds a free supply of high voltage electrical cable, to go with their free supply of electricity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any retailer who tries to recover costs by say jacking up evening electricity tariffs would likely face immediate price controls. The current federal government has proven to be very quick on the trigger with market interventions when their disastrous energy policies cause visible problems \u2013 which when exercised lead to even greater problems, more borrowed money subsidies and payouts to producers to cover up the mess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Surprise! Australia’s Green Transition Energy Price Caps are Causing Supply Side Chaos<\/a><\/blockquote>