Investigating the "prosumager": The energy consumer who both produces and stores

Keywords: batteries, storage, energy
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Saturday
Session Start / End Time: 2/26/2022 03:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/26/2022 05:00 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 4

Abstract

The market for residential battery storage systems is booming. These systems offer, for those who can afford them, the capacity to store electricity – either purchased from utility companies, or generated via home solar panels – for later use. Economics literature has named a nascent neoliberal subject defined by the ownership of such battery-solar set-ups: the “prosumager,” the consumer who also produces and stores. In the abstract, the prosumager has more autonomy than the rational, accountable subject elicited by electricity demand-response technologies like Smart Grids. Batteries can maintain electricity’s value in a space of ambiguous potential, suitable for either use or exchange. Paired with solar panels, home batteries also offer users the assurance that the energy they consume is clean. Yet as objects, home battery systems are under “dispute” [1]. Their emergent boundaries are multiply configured by evolving legal frameworks, proprietary software, figurative technical language, and material composition. In this paper I draw on interviews with home battery owners, chat rooms, and an emerging body of economics literature on the prosumager to investigate some characterizations of batteries and their attendant users. I ask, for the users I engage, what does home energy storage signify, and what is it worth? What are the potentials and risks of residential batteries and their owners as figured in economics literature and legal debates? For these different constituencies, what futures might home battery storage systems elicit or avoid?


[1] Barry, Andrew. 2013. Material Politics: Disputes Along the Pipeline. John Wiley & Sons.