A community-based program to encourage the uptake of solar and battery storage in Australian homes and businesses has been so successful that the promoters believe the battery storage sector may be in the early stages of mass-market uptake.

Australia’s main network lobby is proposing a new tariff for stand-alone power systems that it says will encourage more than one million households with large amounts of solar and battery storage to stay connected to the main networks, rather than lead an exodus.

A world-leading project that will combine solar PV, wind energy and battery storage, and which could ultimately be one of the biggest power stations in Queensland, has received financial support from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.

All eyes are on the Pullman Hotel in Sydney, where on Thursday, 12 out of the 20 large-scale solar projects shortlisted for the Australian Renewable Energy Agency’s $100 million funding round are expected to be announced as winners of federal government grants.

Australia’s principal policy maker for the energy markets has waived through a rule change that could accelerate the use of battery storage to provide grid stability as more renewables enter the market. But the rule maker has shocked participants with another decision that may reinforce the dominance of the big fossil fuel utilities.

Australia is poised to experience its biggest ever boom in large-scale solar construction over the next year as a range of international market factors and local policy incentives take hold.

A world leading large-scale solar and battery storage project in north Queensland has drawn interest from the world’s biggest miner, BHP Billiton, which says it is looking at the technology for its remote and off-grid mine sites.

The amount of rooftop solar installed across Australia is expected to break through the 5GW mark in July, reaching a remarkable milestone in a sector that was virtually non-existent in 2009.

Former Australian boss of GDF Suez, Tony Concannon, has now re-emerged as the chief executive of Reach Solar, while former head of Energy Australia, Richard McIndoe,has since emerged as the executive chairman of Edge Electrons.