Focus on battery storage could be a cost-effective energy goal for Albanese government, report says

The Albanese government should redirect some of the $20bn earmarked for its Rewiring the Nation plan to support a storage goal that would turbocharge the take-up of batteries and other methods to store power, according to a Victoria Energy Policy Centre report.

Energy markets could become an early source of strife for the incoming government, which inherits soaring prices in part because of outages of coal-fired power stations as well as from the effect of sanctions imposed on Russia for invading Ukraine.

The Australian Energy Market Operator has estimated the full decarbonisation of the grid will cost $87bn in present values, with generation and storage taking up $75bn and transmission $12bn.

The scheme would also be designed to reward only newcomers beyond a certain date, to ensure the target draws in capacity that would not have otherwise been added.

Chris Bowen, set to be sworn in as the new energy and climate minister on Wednesday, was not available for comment pending a briefing, a spokesperson said.