20 January 2021 Victoria – the Australian state hardest hit by Covid-19 in 2020 – has rounded out the pandemic-themed year with a couple of encouraging home energy storage milestones, including the biggest month for solar battery rebate uptake, and the biggest month for battery installations. The latest data on the state’s Solar Homes program shows that there was a record total of 429 applications for the solar battery rebate in the second-last month of the year, in November, and 183 home battery installations in December. Not bad for a year described earlier this month by industry analysts SunWiz as “tricky” and “tough” for the Australian rooftop solar market, as the spread of Covid led to tough government restrictions that ground many businesses to a halt. This was particularly pronounced in Victoria, where a “hard lockdown” prevented the vast majority of solar and battery installations for nearly three months.