Thank you for your support, this Open Letter is closed, and has been sent. Please check out our other campaigns or ways you can become involved.
Call for support for on-farm batteries from federal politicians
Re: Support for On-Farm Batteries
Australia’s farmers are calling for urgent government support for on-farm batteries to help secure their energy future, lower costs, and strengthen regional communities.
Electricity is one of the most significant input costs for Australian farms because farmers are major energy users. With access to land, rooftops, sunlight, and wind, farmers also have enormous potential to create clean energy for their own use. However, without reliable energy storage, much of this potential remains untapped.
Improving farmers’ access to energy storage will lower electricity bills on farms and reduce pressure on the grid in regional and rural communities.
Farmers for Climate Action is calling on government support to make battery storage more accessible and affordable for farmers. While many farmers have already invested in on-farm renewables such as rooftop solar, the high upfront cost of batteries remains a significant barrier.
Agriculture is already leading the way in emissions reduction, and farmers are working hard to lower costs and cut fossil fuel pollution by investing in on-farm renewables. Battery storage makes these clean energy solutions more effective.
The current cost of living crisis is hitting regional Australians and farmers particularly hard. On-farm batteries are already making a difference where they’ve been adopted and reduce farmers’ dependence on volatile coal and gas electricity prices. With government support, we can deliver more affordable, secure, and reliable energy for all Australian farmers.
We urge the government to back Australia’s farmers by supporting on-farm battery storage, unlocking the full potential of clean, homegrown energy in the regions that need it most.
Your sincerely,
Natalie Collard
CEO
Farmers for Climate Action
Hi,
It is a great initiative to get support for farmers installing batteries, but the rest of the community needs support in this regard too!
Also why not gov’t charging stations on rural roads? Ensuring gov’t ownership of charging stations means that Aust will not become dependent on multinationals like Tesla. This is critically important after BYD launched its 4 minute charging eplatform. Charging consumers at these stations can also replace the reduced fuel excise as car users switch to electric.
Our farmers are the answer to the electricity crisis born of climate change. Supporting them in every way possible is surely a great thing. Particularly the non corporate kind.
I have signed your letter. However, I feel that direct financial support is not the best approach ( I know this was not referred to in the letter). Perhaps it is better for distributors or generators to own the batteries with a lease back to the farmer (for a small amount). This would allow for a “distributed, community battery” that can be used to support grid infrastructure as you stated. The various levels of government need to be able to ensure there are no legislative or development barriers to prevent this happening.
We have to get away from fossil fuels the faster the better. 8 billion+ world population is unsustainable and makes changing to renewables even more important. Our planet has finite resources and our descendants will bear the brunt, if we can’t stop manmade climate change. So let’s stop the Ponzi Scheme of an ever growing world economy and think of our grandchildrens future. Let’s use solar energy the best way we can.
Taking farms off the grid reduces the risk of catastrophic fires caused by lightning strikes on poles and wires, or by wind or other weather events. Wind turbines and solar panels with a battery backup produce cheaper electricity than generated by a gas or coal-fired power station. The transmission loss / wastage by sending electricity along wires is exacerbated by, and increases with, the distances involved, compared with generation on the farm.
Additionally, the farm beneefits by not having to transport and store fossil fuel, resulting in further cost savings and hazard reduction.
Although solar panels are used and valuable on the farm there are times when we need power and the solar generation is low. Having batteries to back up the solar panels is very valuable and helps improve the overall efficiency of solar energy production and the supply of electricty for on-farm use.
Across Oz; us farmers are on the pointy end of climate change; SW QLD, Northern Rivers , etc. . Just imagine if a united farmer voice was demanding action. Some parties have been captured by coal, oil and gas miners.
I have signed your letter. However, before you make statements like ‘agriculture is leading the way ..’, please critically review the evidence. My assessment is that much of what is claimed as evidence is slim at best and false at worst and is green washing. We have to be honest for success.
While farm batteries are excellent to reduce the cost of power it would be better if we could use the power from one installation over the whole of the farm. This may include several houses and sheds. We were restricted with the on ground installation for one house only. Also as we were an end of the SWER line we could not return power to the grid. Still more work to be done but heading in the right direction. Thank you.
The Australian Government needs to support the transition to renewable and helping farmers get batteries to store the energy from solar and wind power is a good idea. Farmers should be aware of some politicians pushing for the adoption of Nuclear power. Beware! Australia is the driest habitable continent on earth. Nuclear power requires large amounts of water to operate. It is not an option for dealing with the climate crisis. Contrary to oft-repeated claims Nuclear power is not emissions-free; It is much more expensive than the already developed renewable technology; it has a very long lead time (several decades); and leaves a dangerous legacy of nuclear pollution which must be managed for millenia; and will become a burden to society long after the shareholders have died and are pushing up the daisies. There are nuclear waste dumps in USA that are polluting their local water-table with Plutonium and other radioactive nasties that will be a problem for millenia; Hanford to give one example. The false claims that Nuclear Power is low or no emission have been debunked by UNSW (“Sustainable Energy Solutions for Climate Change” Associate Professor Mark Diesendorf 7 Feb 2014). The conclusion was: “To sum up, based on existing commercial technology, nuclear energy is not a solution to the global climate crisis, because it will soon become too emissions-intensive. It is also not a short-term solution, because it is a very slow technology to plan and construct. It is dangerous and very expensive.” To finish and reiterate; it is a good idea for the Australian Government to help farmers to get batteries to store the energy from solar and wind power.
Great ideas for batteries on farms . Thank you.
And what would enhance energy production even more would be battery set ups adjacent to country towns so they too do not need wasteful transmission lines etc. We need also to make sure in this climate emergency that remaining native vegetation is not cleared for our energy storage … but battery storage for farms and towns is the way to go.
The more farms and rural properties on renewbles and less distance from any power source the better. The fossil fuel, climate and war connection / issue is THE defining issue of our times.
We live in Wattamolla Kangaroo Valley; certainly not the only patch of solar panel dense rural Australia. Batteries will ease the situation when the grid is overloaded I can imagine a roadside facility for travellers et al to recharge at no coast.