Project summary
Australia's clean energy transition is structurally excluding one third of the population. The 4.6 million households in rentals and apartments cannot access rooftop solar or home battery storage due to three compounding barriers: the split incentive between landlords and tenants, high upfront costs of conventional systems and the inability to make structural modifications without landlord or body corporate consent. Plug-in Energy Storage Systems (PESS), portable batteries connecting to a standard wall outlet, resolve all three simultaneously. Yet in Australia, PESS has no safety standard, no rebate eligibility, and no consumer awareness framework. Germany reached 1.2 million units through what is locally known as ‘Balkonkraftwerke’ (literally 'balcony power plants') by early 2026. This project investigates how, and translates those lessons for Australia.