Plug in: The new Tesla Energy Powerwall Home Battery features technology developed by a Canberra start-up. Credit:Reuters "If we can nail this down it means that the value of the PV solar on the grid is no longer just in the sunshine hours, but in the whole 24-hours of the day," he said. "It kills the argument put out there by the anti-renewable mob that they're intermittent and you can't rely on them… and it turns intermittent renewables like solar and wind into a direct competitor for base-load power."

'The idea is to look at how [the batteries] perform in different environmental conditions, different charging and different loads'. Credit:Graham Tidy "The idea is to look at how they perform in different environmental conditions, different charging and different loads and allow that knowledge to be out there in the public domain so people doing home systems, business-sized commercial systems or even larger have some real-world technology to look at," Mr Troman said. "Tesla have shown interest in being included in the trial, however they do not have their product physically available in Australia as yet." Mr Troman said the ability to scale battery technology up or down means the data, expected by the end of the year, would be used by many and the testing centre will be designed for new products to be easily added to the trail. ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht said there was little information about how well lithium-ion batteries could work in Australia with its hot environment and high uptake of rooftop solar.

"For a large project they would go to tender… they are going to find the best solution at the best price for their application, but that's not going to be quite so easy for an individual homeowner," he said. "So part of the outcome we hope to achieve from this is provide information for the general public as to what sort of solutions will work best for them." The announcement of the trial comes just days after the ACT government called for expressions of interest for its 50MW next generation solar farm to include storage. Mr Troman said long-term data from the trial would be too late for the ACT project, but companies wanting to bid for the farms were likely to seek advice from experts involved in the testing. Mr Frischknecht said ARENA was keen to support the hub of renewable energy expertise beginning to become established in Canberra.

Mr Troman said Canberra's growing international reputation for renewable energy would mean people would respect data that came from the trial. While the renewable energy industry has been marred by negativity in recent years, Mr Troman said the federal government would be unable to stop it progress. "From a business point of view it's still pretty hard because you can go broke every other week when the government says something and suddenly half your projects disappear because someone gets cold feet, but if we can hold out through this period the future will be bright," he said. The three-year trial will begin later this year and is expected to wrap up in June 2018.