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Energy Trading
Put your battery to work in the energy market
Energy trading means using your home battery to participate in the electricity market — charging it when wholesale power is cheap (often overnight or during sunny midday oversupply) and either using that stored power during expensive peak periods or selling it back to the grid when spot prices spike. It sounds complicated, but the right software and retailer make it completely automatic.
Australia's National Electricity Market is one of the most dynamic wholesale electricity markets in the world. Prices can swing from near zero — or even negative — during periods of high solar generation to hundreds or even thousands of dollars per megawatt-hour during demand peaks on hot summer afternoons. For most households, these price swings have always been invisible, absorbed by the retailer and smoothed into a flat rate on your bill. A home battery with smart energy trading software changes that.
Energy trading is the practice of buying electricity when it is cheap and using or selling it when prices are high. Your battery is the mechanism that makes this possible — it stores cheap electrons and discharges valuable ones. The term covers everything from simple time-of-use arbitrage (charge overnight on an off-peak tariff, discharge at peak) to sophisticated wholesale spot market participation via a Virtual Power Plant (VPP). SolBuddy helps you find the right strategy and retailer for your situation.
Time-of-use arbitrage — the simplest form
The most accessible form of energy trading does not require any special market access. If you are on a time-of-use electricity tariff, power costs significantly less at off-peak times (typically overnight) than during peak periods (late afternoon to early evening). A smart battery inverter can be programmed to charge from the grid overnight at, say, 10 to 15 cents per kilowatt-hour and discharge during the peak period when you would otherwise pay 35 to 50 cents. The difference is your saving. For a 10 kWh battery doing this cycle every day, the annual benefit can reach $600 to $1,000.
Virtual Power Plants — strength in numbers
A Virtual Power Plant (VPP) aggregates hundreds or thousands of home batteries into a single, coordinated asset that can be dispatched like a conventional power station. When the grid needs extra power urgently — a sudden peak demand or a large generator tripping offline — the VPP operator can call on all the member batteries simultaneously. Members receive payments or bill credits for making their battery capacity available and for each dispatch event.
- No action required from you — the VPP software manages dispatch events automatically while protecting a minimum charge level for your own use.
- Your solar self-consumption is always prioritised — VPP participation only uses battery capacity that exceeds your household's needs.
- Payments vary by provider — some offer flat monthly credits, others pay per dispatch event, and some operate on a revenue-sharing model tied to market prices.
- Opt-out provisions are standard — most VPP agreements let you withdraw your battery from dispatch at any time via an app if you need full control for a specific period.
- Battery warranty considerations — reputable VPP operators design dispatch strategies to stay within the battery manufacturer's cycle limits so your warranty remains valid.
Photon's tip: before joining a VPP, check that the operator has a signed grid service agreement with AEMO or your DNSP — legitimate VPPs operate under formal market frameworks, not informal arrangements. SolBuddy only recommends accredited VPP partners.
Wholesale spot market participation
For households on certain retailers offering real-time or spot-price-linked tariffs — such as Amber Electric in Australia — your battery can respond to live wholesale price signals. When the spot price goes negative (the grid has too much power and generators pay to offload it), your battery charges. When the spot price spikes above your threshold, your battery exports. Amber's app and API make this manageable for tech-savvy households, and third-party optimisation tools like the open-source PowerShaper or Charge HQ can automate the decisions entirely.
How much can you actually earn?
Earnings depend on your battery size, your local grid conditions, which retailer or VPP you join, and how volatile prices are in your region. Realistic expectations for a 10 to 13.5 kWh battery in a VPP sit between $200 and $600 per year in additional credits or bill reductions, on top of the savings already achieved through solar self-consumption. Spot market participation on a price-linked tariff can yield more in high-volatility regions but also carries more variability. SolBuddy models scenarios honestly — we will not oversell the numbers.
What you need to get started
Energy trading requires a grid-connected battery with a compatible smart inverter (most modern units from brands like Tesla Powerwall, SolarEdge, Sungrow, and Fronius support VPP integration), a bi-directional smart meter, and enrolment with a participating retailer or VPP operator. If you already have a solar and battery system, SolBuddy can assess whether your hardware is compatible and guide you through retailer enrolment. If you are starting fresh, we design the system with trading capability built in from day one.
The energy market is changing fast and the households with batteries are best placed to benefit from that change. SolBuddy stays across every new VPP program and retailer offering in Australia so that your advice is always current — and your battery always working as hard as it can for you.
Frequently asked questions
Will VPP participation drain my battery when I need it most?
Good VPP operators always reserve a minimum state of charge — typically 20 to 30 percent — for the household before dispatching. You can usually adjust this reserve in the companion app. During heatwaves and extreme weather events, many operators also reduce or pause dispatching to ensure households maintain backup power.
Does energy trading void my battery warranty?
It can if the VPP operator cycles your battery beyond the manufacturer's rated cycle limits. SolBuddy only partners with VPP operators who operate within warranty-safe parameters and can provide written confirmation of this. Always ask for that assurance before signing up.
What is the difference between a VPP and a spot-market tariff like Amber?
A VPP is managed by a third party that aggregates many batteries and dispatches them as a fleet — you receive credits for participation but have limited visibility into individual dispatch events. A spot-market tariff puts you directly on wholesale prices, giving you more control and potentially higher earnings, but also more variability and more active management required.
My battery is only 5 kWh — is it worth joining a VPP?
Smaller batteries earn proportionally less from VPP participation, but many programs accept batteries as small as 5 kWh. The time-of-use arbitrage strategy described above often delivers better returns for smaller batteries than VPP membership alone. SolBuddy will run the numbers specific to your setup.
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