The Greens are floating a plan to have 100,000 homes in Western Australia powered entirely by solar energy and battery storage, and to have it going in five years.

Upper House candidate Tim Clifford says most people just cannot afford the battery storage units.  But a funding scheme could go a long way to help that.  The Greens are proposing a rebate would allow individuals to get up to half the cost of their storage system covered to a maximum of $5,000 in the first year and tapering off to $1,500 in five years.  Families bringing in less than $80,000 per year could also get a $5,000 upfront grant.  The overall cost of the program is projected to be $290 Million, co-funded from the removal of federal fossil fuel and mining subsidies.

Mr. Clifford says Western Australia's sunny skies makes it the perfect place for such a program.  "We should be leading on this, WA is one of the ripest places in the world for battery storage uptake due to our high electricity prices," and importantly, "high solar radiation."

He also WA should join other states in setting a renewable energy target: "I think it's pretty embarrassing that we are behind other the states."