Solar Incentives Slashed Under New Rules

The Baillieu government has cut incentives for rooftop solar panels for next year as part of a shake-up of how small-scale renewable energy is priced in the state.

The changes reduce the Victorian feed-in-tariff for solar to eight cents for each kilowatt hour fed into the grid in 2013 - down from the existing rate of 25 cents - and fulfils recommendations by the state's competition advisory body.

The changes will not affect customers with existing contracts and tariff rates. Households that have paperwork lodged by September 30 with electricity suppliers can also still get access to the existing 25-cent tariff.

A review released today by the Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission recommends a six-to-eight cents a kilowatt hour tariff be put in place, with the government accepting the top end of that range for 2013.

The tariff will then be adjusted by the government each year in 2014, 2015 and 2016 based on the wholesale electricity price, before moving to a fully floating market price in 2017.

The tariff scheme will also be opened to other forms of renewable energy systems generating 100 kilowatts or less.

The changes fall short of calls by the renewable energy industry that a fair rate of tariff for solar was 12 to 16 cents per kilowatt-hour.

Announcing the changes this afternoon, Energy Minister Michael O'Brien said the falling costs of solar panel systems and rising power prices meant households were taking up solar without the need for over-generous subsidies from other power users.

He said an older 60-cents per kilowatt-hour tariff — closed by the Baillieu government last year — would cost Victorian households $41 million a year to 2024 through electricity bills in subsidies to homes with solar panels.

"People in public housing, tenants who cannot access solar, are paying higher electricity bills in order to subsidise the rooftop solar for other people. Now that wasn't sustainable at those rates, they were over generous," Mr O'Brien said.

Labor's energy spokeswoman, Lily D'Ambrosio, criticised the decision, saying thousands of Victorian families were installing solar panels to reduce their power bills amid increasing cost-of-living pressures.

''The Baillieu government has again shown it just doesn’t care about supporting families who want to reduce their energy costs while also doing their bit for the environment,'' she said.

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Solar Panel Firms ‘Mislead' Over Carbon

Two solar panel companies have been found to have made misleading comments about the impact of the carbon tax on electricity prices. 

POLARIS Solar and ACT Renewable Energy said in leaflets distributed in Western Australia and the ACT in late 2011 and early 2012 that customers should buy solar panels because electricity prices would increase by 20 per cent due to the carbon price.

The brochures also claimed the cost of power would rise by more than 400 per cent by 2019.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission found the information was "clearly misleading".

While the brochures said the figures were based on independent studies, they were in fact based on unverified claims in an energy industry association ad.

"There was no reasonable basis for these claims to be made," ACCC acting chairman Michael Schaper said in a statement.

Polaris Solar and ACT Renewable Energy gave an undertaking on Tuesday not to engage in similar conduct in the future and ensure all directors are trained in consumer law.

Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury said it was an important reminder to businesses they could not make false claims about the carbon price.

"This also underscores the fact that the reckless and negative scare campaign run by Tony Abbott and vested interests is putting businesses at risk of breaking the law," Mr Bradbury said.

Harvey Norman Invests in Solar Panels

RETAILER Harvey Norman plans to be a market leader in the domestic solar industry after placing a substantial order for user-friendly solar panels. 

United States-based Westinghouse said today it had received an order for five megawatts of its Solar Instant Connect solar panel systems from Harvey Norman.

The order represents a significant investment in the green technology, which will result in Westinghouse's shipments in 2012 more than doubling from 2011.

Harvey Norman said the uptake of solar energy in Australia was stronger than in most other parts of the world, with over 830 megawatts sold in the local market in 2011.

"With Australian power pricing continuing to rise, we are continuing to see very strong demand for solar installations," Harvey Norman commercial division franchisee Alan Stephenson said in a statement.

"In addition to supplying kitchen, bathroom items, hot water and air conditioning systems, we have established a solar business, which we believe will be a market leader."

The newly ordered solar panels require Australian certification, and the first shipments to Harvey Norman are expected to begin in late-2012, Westinghouse said.

Gillard Government Launches $340 Million Energy Programme

The federal government of Australia launched on Thursday a $340-million energy programme designed to provide energy efficiency to businesses, local government and communities.

The bulk of the funds will be for efficiency upgrades to infrastructure, including council buildings, stadia, education facilities, town halls and nursing homes. It will be made up of three programmes, with the funds broken down into $200 million for councils and not-for-profit and community groups, $100 million for low-income households and $40 million for small- and medium-sized enterprises and community groups.

Climate Change and Energy Efficiency Minister Greg Combet, Regional Minister Simon Crean and Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change Mark Dreyfus jointly in Canberra the new initiative.

"The community accepts the need for action on climate change and the programmes announced today are a step in the transition to a cleaner economy," the ministers said in a joint statement.

It will reach the different groups through grants to interested parties. The government will issue calls for expression of interests next week. The ministers assured there would be proper safeguards to ensure the money would be spent well.

Mr Dreyfus said the energy efficient programs are designed differently from the failed home insulation scheme which caused the death of four Australians and hundreds of razed homes.

Under the community energy efficiency programme, funding for wind and solar power systems are not eligible, but solar hot water systems are included since the latter is not considered a renewable energy generation scheme.

For the low-income energy efficiency programme, the purchase and installation of renewable energy generation systems such as solar photovoltaic, micro-hydro, wind turbine and biomass generation systems are excluded.

The launch came ahead of the July 1 implementation date of the carbon tax, which some sectors blame for the expected rise in prices, including air fare.

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Australia: Wind Energy and Solar Power Needs Support

The Grattan Institute has studied the potential of wind power, solar energy (photovoltaic and concentrating solar thermal power), geothermal energy, bioenergy, nuclear and CCS to generate near-zero emissions power.

No easy choices: which way to Australia’s energy future? explores the acute intellectual and policy challenge Australia faces in energy policy.

Markets must be the primary mechanism by which Australia transforms its electricity supply. Yet it will not be able to meet its emission targets and at the same time produce future electricity at a price acceptable to the public unless governments act to reduce the costs of low-emission technologies.

It is increasingly clear that the carbon pricing scheme alone is not enough to make low-emission technologies competitive and effect the change that Australia needs.

The report analyses the potential of seven clean-energy technologies: wind farm, solar photovoltaic panels, large-scale concentrated solar power, geothermal energy, carbon capture and storage, nuclear and bioenergy.

The report argues that wind turbines and solar photovoltaic may be commercially viable if carbon pollution prices rise to foreseeable levels over the next 20 years. But it states that those technologies can never provide more than 50 per cent of Australia's electricity needs without massive advances in storage technologies.

Geothermal energy, which has huge potential in Australia, is highly uncertain when it comes to reliability and costs because it's still in the exploration stage. The report acknowledges that nuclear and CCS are unlikely to be demonstrated in Australia anytime soon "unless government takes on most of the material risk of the project".

Mr Wood says the carbon tax and subsequent emission trading scheme (ETS) must be the primary mechanism by which Australia reduces its emissions but he argues the market on its own won't make low-emissions technologies competitive.

The Gillard government, at the behest of the Greens, is establishing a $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation which will leverage private sector financing for renewable energy and clean technology projects. But the Grattan Institute report says more needs to be done aside from support for research and development.

Labor's carbon price scheme begins on July 1, at a price of $23 per tonne of carbon dioxide emitted. The government has also promised a $10 billion clean energy finance corporation, due to start in 2013-14, and Australia has a target of 20 per cent of energy coming from renewable sources by 2020.

But the Grattan Institute found government was responsible for several barriers preventing the development of clean-energy technology. They could be removed by changing the rules governing the electricity network, improving mapping of solar and geological resources and giving potential investors greater certainty by releasing annual emissions limits for well into the future.

Further, it calls on governments to expand exploration and mapping of solar energy and geographical resources to aid in the development of concentrated solar thermal power and geothermal energy and the location of suitable sites for carbon storage.

Finally, the think tank's report stresses the need for a complete overhaul of Australia's distribution network. "Existing transmission networks and network regulation are designed around the assumption that almost all electricity generators will be large plants close to existing centres of generation," it states.

Current cost structures mean wind farm, solar energy and geothermal energy plants in remote locations are unviable simply because they can't connect to the grid. Mr Wood suggests existing generators and retailers should foot the bill for new hubs to be built with low-emissions suppliers only paying a share of the cost once they're up and running. New regulatory frameworks are required that ensure long-run cost-efficient trade-offs, the report concludes.

www.grattan.edu.au/publications/124_energy_no_easy_choices.pdf

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.

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