Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment has he made of the benefits of domestic powerwalls as a means of (a) storing energy created by renewables and (b) providing the grid energy to manage peaks in demand.

The Government and Ofgem published Upgrading our Energy System: a Smart Systems and Flexibility Plan in July 2017, which outlines a series of actions to support the transition to a smart energy system. It presented an assessment of changes in our energy system, and considered a range of benefits that energy storage systems – including home batteries or ‘powerwalls’ – can deliver. These benefits include maximising the usable output from renewable generation and ‘load shifting’ to manage peaks in demand. Research by Imperial College and the Carbon Trust estimates that deploying smart, flexible technologies, such as energy storage, can save up to £40 billion across the GB electricity system to 2050.