Bungled solar bonus scheme to cost $1 billion

A scheme to encourage New South Wales residents to buy solar panels was too popular, and will cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars more than expected. The state's auditor-general, Peter Achterstraat, says there was no market research ahttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifnd no analysis of whether the Solar Bonus Scheme was worth the money.

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Australia to Build Two Major Solar Power Stations

The Australian government has selected two of the four large-scale projects that make up the cornerstone of its aggressive effort to produce a total of 1,000 megawatts (MW) of solar power capacity.

Solar Dawn and Moree Solar Farm are part of the Solar Flagships programme’s US$1.5 billion infusion to create grid-connected solar power stations in Australia using CSP and PV technologies. Once complete, the two projects they selected will be among the world’s largest for their respective technologies.

The combined capacity of the two projects, in the neighborhood of 400MW, would represent a large percentage of the nation’s current solar capacity. According to a recent EPIA global report, Australia ended 2010 with 504MW of installed PV capacity.

A consortium of AREVA Solar, CS Energy and Wind Prospect CWP has been selected to develop a CSP project in Round 1 of the Solar Flagships Programme.

Solar Dawn is a proposed 250MW CSP/natural gas hybrid power plant and will be the largest plant of its kind in the world when complete, according to the company. The project is also expected to receive more than US$500 million in government contributions.

Solar Dawn will be built in South West Queensland, near CS Energy’s recently announced 44-MW Kogan Creek Solar Boost Project. Like Solar Dawn, Kogan Creek Solar Boost will also use AREVA Solar’s Compact Linear Fresnel Reflector (CLFR) solar thermal technology.

As a CSP/hybrid power plant, Solar Dawn will combine AREVA Solar’s CLFR solar steam generators with a gas boiler back-up system, giving it the ability to deliver around-the-clock power.

The Solar Dawn consortium will look to finalise approvals and financing arrangements, as well as engineering, construction, operations and maintenance contracts by the end of this year.

A consortium of Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV), BP Solar and Pacific Hydro won the government tender to build and operate Australia’s first large-scale PV solar power station. The 150MW PV facility will be located in the New South Wales Tablelands near the town of Moree.

FRV is an independent power company based in Madrid that specialises in solar power generation and has projects under development across the United States and Europe.

The project, the first large-scale solar power station to be built in Australia, will also be one of the largest solar facilities in the world, the company said. Construction is due to begin in 2012 with electricity produced to be sold into Australia’s National Electricity Market.

Once complete, the Moree Solar farm will comprise around 650,000 PV panels. The farm is expected to deliver significant benefits to the local economy, including job creation during the four-year construction phase.

Silver Investment News: Silver’s 74% Surge Creates ‘Headwind’ for Solar Rivalry With Fossil Fuels

Soaring silver prices are hampering the solar industry’s ability to compete with fossil fuels.

Panel makers consume about 11 percent of the world’s supply of silver, the material in solar cells that conducts electricity. The metal has appreciated 74 percent to $35.30 a troy ounce on average so far this year from $20.24 last year.

Prices for solar cells have dropped about 27 percent this year and would be even lower if each panel didn’t require about 20 grams of silver, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. That’s pushing back the date when companies such as Solarworld AG (SWV) and LDK Solar Co. can deliver solar power at prices that are competitive with traditional energy.

“Global silver prices have gone up a lot, and solar cells use silver paste as the front-side contact material,” Shawn Qu, chief executive of Canadian Solar Inc. (CSIQ), which is based in China, said in an interview. “The increase of the silver costs will give us a challenge in efforts to reduce solar cell costs.”

Prices for photovoltaic solar panels were $1.49 a watt in June, compared with about $1.80 in January, New Energy Finance estimates, as manufacturers especially in China raised production and incentives were trimmed in Europe.

Silver Investment News: Silver’s 74% Surge Creates ‘Headwind’ for Solar Rivalry With Fossil Fuels

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Credits Trader

Australia's First Commercial Solar Roof Lease Launched In The ACT

National solar solutions provider Energy Matters recently launched Australia's first commercial solar roof lease; further affirming the ACT's standing as Australia's solar power capital.

Energy Matters' groundbreaking 'pay now, pay later, pay never' commercial solar initiative was launched to prominent ACT business owners at Ullrich Aluminium’s Hume site on Tuesday 17th May. The launch was presided over by Simon Corbell, Minister for the Environment and Sustainability, who lauded the program for its positive impact in "cementing the ACT as the solar capital of Australia".

Energy Matters has a commitment to playing its role in ensuring all Australians have the opportunity to participate in reducing carbon dioxide emissions and accelerating the uptake of renewable energy in Australia, but understands the challenges that the cost of system ownership can pose.

As the first ever program of its kind in Australia, the Ullrich Aluminium solar lease launch paved the way for ACT businesses to benefit from generous government incentives; whether their budgets stretch to outright system

Kiwi-designed Solar Boat to Revolutionise Travel

A Kiwi-designed boat powered solely by the sun is set to become the first to circumnavigate the globe.

The Turanor Planetsolar has already made it from Monaco to Brisbane, arriving Down Under at a drifting pace yesterday.

"No sun, and the wind was against us, but we managed," said project founder Raphaël Domjan.

Its stop-over is a chance to re-charge following a period of overcast weather, which slowed the Catamaran approach to Australia to just 37 kilometres a day. But its crew said it could cover more than 200km per day without sails or a diesel engine, purely on the sun's energy alone.

The Turanor Planetsolar is powered by 540 square metres of solar panels.

The boat's crew are hoping to prove the reliability of renewable energy.

"It's a kind of promotion for renewable energies and for the use of renewable energies. The idea mainly is to show that it works," said sponsor Immo Stroher.

The boat is the brainchild of Swiss adventurer Domjan and solar technology companies sponsored its $17 million build.

The Kiwi company behind Pete Bethune's "Earthrace", LOMOcean, took on the challenge, with the Turanor being their first solar-powered design.

"Typically a 30 metre motor-yacht might be using 30 to 40 kilowatts just to air condition the boat - we've only got 20 kilowatts to drive the boat along," said Andre Moltschaniwskyj from LOMOcean.

To make most of that power, the team focused on super-slick hull design.

"And that sort of comes back to the New Zealand mentality of designing race yachts. You know a slippery hull is a fast hull, is a fuel efficient - or in this case energy efficient - hull," said Moltschaniwskyj.

"The capital costs might be higher, but then you don't have the high ongoing costs of providing diesel, and infrastructure to provide that diesel, and servicing of diesel engines."

The team are now in talks about using alternative energy for New Zealand ferries.

[It's] making us realise how carelessly, in some ways, we use power," says co-designer Andre Moltschaniwsky.

And we're very much used to how much energy there is - petrol, diesel and the fossil fuels we burn - and as a result we're probably quite wasteful of it."

Changes To PV Incentives In Australia Prompt "Solar's Last Chance" Rally

The global governmental trend of revisions to solar incentive programs continues, as Australia has become the latest country to roll back its financial support for solar energy. Earlier this month, Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency Greg Combet announced changes to the country's popular Solar Credits offering.

In the announcement, Combet attributed the revisions to "continued strong growth in the industry, the impact of this on electricity prices and the impact of the Solar Credits' support on demand for other clean energy technologies such as solar hot water heaters."

Australia's Solar Credits, which provide support under the Small-Scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES) by multiplying the number of certificates that these systems would generally be able to create under the Large-Scale Renewable Energy Target scheme, will be reduced to a multiple of three (from four) on July 1. The new multiplier is expected to provide residential PV system owners with an up-front credit equal to approximately one-third of out-of-pocket costs, based on a standard 1.5 kW installation.

The multiplier will be further reduced over the next few years, declining to two in July 2012 and to one in July 2013.

According to the minister, these changes will "help reduce the oversupply of certificates, which is currently suppressing the certificate price in the SRES." A statutory review of the SRES is scheduled for mid-2012 and every two years thereafter.

The government has also announced plans to partner with state and territory governments to evaluate feed-in tariffs (FITs), which are still provided in addition to the Solar Credits mechanism.

The officials will verify that the existing FIT levels are consistent with certain previously agreed-upon principles and do not create an "unjustifiable burden on electricity consumers, either through cross-subsidy mechanisms or their impact on the SRES," the minister explained.

However, in New South Wales (NSW) - Australia's most populous state - FIT changes announced by Premier Barry O'Farrell have already led to backlash from the state's solar sector.

Last week, the NSW government closed its Solar Bonus Scheme and reduced FIT levels for existing participants from $0.60 AUD per kWh to $0.40 AUD per kWh. (The FIT for customers at the $0.20 AUD FIT tier remained unchanged.)

Government officials blamed the closure and changes on excessive taxpayer burden and program mismanagement; program costs are projected to reach up to $1.9 billion.

"We acknowledge customers who joined the original 60 cent Scheme had certain expectations of financial returns; however, the scheme was never intended to provide windfall profits to a few at the expense of many," NSW Minister for Resources and Energy Chris Hartcher stated in the announcement.

John Grimes, chief executive of the Australian Solar Energy Society (AuSES), criticized the decision, noting that the NSW government had promised it would not enact FIT cuts affecting residents who had already installed PV.

"Barry O'Farrell must keep his promise to the NSW electorate and immediately reverse his decision to retrospectively slash the solar feed-in tariff," Grimes wrote in AuSES' blog.

In response, AuSES and its supporters are holding a "Solar's Last Chance Rally" this week to call attention to the NSW's FIT freeze and payment reductions. According to AuSES, these actions could result in extensive job losses in the solar sector and monetary losses for residential PV system owners.

Region in a Solar Eclipse

AS POWER prices continue to scale new heights, renewable energy such as solar power is becoming an increasingly popular alternative in our town.
The Clean Energy Council (CEC) counted 759 installations of solar panels in Port Macquarie last year – equating to 5.08 per cent of households using solar energy, a mid-range percentage in NSW.

The state is leading the way in renewable energy, with the biggest growth in solar-power system use in Australia.

Some 32,196 solar power systems were installed in NSW last year, compared to 13,875 in 2009.

Queensland came in second, with 25,594 systems installed last year.

After June 30, the federal government’s solar rebate – which now is about $7000 for installing a residential system – will be reduced by $1200.

Port Macquarie solar panel installers have enjoyed increased orders from homeowners rushing to beat the deadline.

Queensland Nationals Senator Ron Boswell believes the increase in solar panel installations is contributing to rising electricity prices, because the government has to find money to pay out its “generous” rebate.

CEC argues – citing an independent energy market analyst ROAM Consulting report – that power prices are being driven by rising network costs and retailer margins, not renewable energy.

Installation company G & A Martin Electrical Contractors owner Scott Martin said he did not know exactly how the rebate money was generated.

But he hoped it would not be through rising power prices.

“By installing solar panels on someone’s home, while the government is offering the rebate, essentially the infrastructure is bought by the homeowner, so the onus is on them to maintain it, allowing the government to save money on infrastructure installation and maintenance. That’s where I hope the rebate money is coming from,” he said.

Mr Martin decided to transform his electrical business to focus on solar panels three years ago.

“My business started with three employees and has grown to 15 in three years,” he said.

Mr Martin said households could install a solar-power system for about $2500.

The government footed the rest of the $9000 bill.