Community energy update – what’s changed since 2022?

Renew’s updated CER Enablement Project findings reinforce the strong consumer benefits of a future energy system built around rooftop solar, batteries and other consumer energy resources. The modelling shows that a high-CER scenario—where around three-quarters of homes have solar and most also have batteries—could dramatically reshape the grid, reducing overall network capacity needs and lowering wholesale electricity costs. This future is not a forecast, but a demonstration of what is possible if the right policy, regulatory and technical changes are put in place.

The analysis indicates that such a transition could deliver around $25 billion in net benefits to consumers by 2035 and $69 billion by 2050, largely through reduced network and wholesale energy costs. Importantly, these savings flow to all households, not just those with solar or batteries, showing the system-wide value of consumer energy resources when they are properly integrated and orchestrated.

To unlock these benefits, the report highlights the need for more accurate, cost-reflective network tariffs, better planning and management systems to coordinate distributed energy, and regulatory reforms that reward non-network solutions. It also calls for energy planning frameworks to treat consumer energy resources as active participants in the system, alongside generators and networks, and for a stronger consumer-focused advocacy strategy to guide the transition.