Victorian Government solar power scheme needs extra grunt

 

Victoria’s proposed clean energy payment scheme, designed to encourage more people to install domestic solar power, has been condemned by some members of the renewable energy industry.

Energy Minister Peter Batchelor has announced Victoria will pay households with solar electricity systems installed on their roofs a premium of 60 cents per kilowatt hour of energy fed back into the grid.

While this is the most offered by any state in Australia – both Queensland and South Australia offer 45 cents per kilowatt hour – clean energy groups have accused the government of deliberately designing a payment scheme that will not lead to a rapid uptake of solar power for homes.

Clean energy payment schemes, known as feed-in tariffs, pay consumers who install home solar electricity systems above retail prices for excess solar energy produced.

Mr Batchelor said the new Victorian feed-in tariffs would enable people to pay off the cost of solar installation in less than ten years.

Spokesman for the Alternative Technology Association, Brad Shone said “less than 10 years” claim was "so far from the truth it was not funny". That would need a payment rate of at least $2, he said.

Jeremy Rich, Managing Director of Australian renewable energy company, Energy Matters, said the Victorian government should “consider a gross feed-in tariff ” as this was the model for other successful tariff schemes around the world.

“The proposed net metering will only offer payment for the spare solar electricity returned to the grid. This means that the feed-in tariff model, which is so successful in Europe and many other countries, will be watered down significantly,” he said.

Mr Rich added, “the government is giving hope to Victorians by making them think they are encouraging renewables and solar power, when in fact this proposed feed-in tariff scheme could turn out to be a missed opportunity. Why can’t they adopt a tried and tested gross model like the rest of the world?”

Environment Victoria campaigns director Mark Wakeham said the Government had "shunned the experience of 40 countries internationally".

Impact of global warming will rival great depression: Garnaut

 

Professor Ross Garnaut, author of the Australian government’s climate change review, has warned that the world faces severe consequences if policy makers ignore the economic impact of global warming.

In an article published in the Australian National University's biannual Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, Professor Garnaut likened the shocking economic impacts of unexpected climate change events could rival the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Economic policy should seek long-term solutions that mitigate the economic risk of climate disasters before they happen.

"Progress that is judged later to be inadequate is likely to be associated with policy panic, instability and belated concentration of adjustment into disruptively short periods," he said.

However, costs to governments could be minimised by implementing steady policies that provide incentives placing external costs and benefits of energy policy on citizens and businesses.

This is an idea that renewable energy companies have long agreed with.

Markus Lambert, communication manager of the Australian solar and wind company, Energy Matters, said that the best way to mitigate global warming and its effects on markets worldwide is to reward people for using renewable energy.

“If governments are serious about offsetting future market turmoil in the energy sector, they need to think further than the next electoral cycle. Investment in sustainable, clean energy can help stave off climate change,” he said.

“We need to be proactive in this battle. European nations have used feed-in tariffs that pay people for the energy they produce to great effect. Households with solar power systems can feed electricity back into the grid, and they get paid to do it.”

“Professor Garnaut is just confirming what most people already know. The fact is, ignoring the impacts of global warming will end up costing the world much more than it will to fix the problem. We need to get on with the job.”

 

BG Group proposes Origin Energy takeover

 

Global integrated gas major BG Group has proposed a $12.9 billion takeover of Origin Energy. Origin says it has not yet considered the proposal from BG Group to acquire each share for $14.70 cash. Headquartered in the UK, BG Group operates in a number of sectors, including LNG, transmission and distribution across 27 countries. In April 2008, Queensland Gas Company formed an alliance with BG Group with a joint commitment for the annual export of up to 4 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas from an LNG plant proposed to be built near Gladstone on the central Queensland coast. QGC will supply the LNG plant with 190 pj of coal seam gas a year from the company’s tenements in the Surat Basin. The project is scheduled to export its first shipment of LNG in 2013.

Hydro Tasmania aims to become carbon neutral

 

Hydro Tasmania has set a target of becoming Australia’s first carbon neutral generator by 2012 as part of its response to the challenges of climate change. The commitment was announced at the opening of the new home for Hydro Tasmania Consulting at Cambridge. Hydro Tasmania is also targeting the development of an additional 1000 GWh of capability from the existing Tasmanian system with projects totalling more than $400 million in value over the next 12 years already identified. Currently the system generates around 9000 GWh. The 1000 GWh project is the result of the ongoing pressure of the drought on the Tasmanian hydro system and the need to maximise the renewable energy capability of that system to deliver long-term value to both the company and Tasmanians. Hydro Tasmania chief executive Vince Hawksworth says the announcements form just part of the company’s climate change response strategy. “It is also a key strategic issue for Hydro Tasmania as it presents a significant risk to our business as a generator of hydropower with the ongoing drought seeing our storages now standing at less than 19 per cent full,” says Hawksworth. Hydro Tasmania has recorded its second worst six-month period on record for rainfall – the worst was in 2006-07.

QLD geothermal exploration permit granted

 

The first Exploration Permit for geothermal energy exploration in Queensland has been issued to New South Wales company Granite Power Ltd. Two other companies, Kuth Exploration Pty Ltd and Clean Energy Australasia Pty Ltd, have commenced the native title process, the final step before the granting of their exploration permits. In total there are nine tenement areas in Qld and preferred tenderers for the third round of geothermal permit tenders will soon be announced. The Qld Government says there had been an amount of uncertainty with some explorers in the application of the Commonwealth Native Title Act to geothermal exploration, but that Premier Anna Bligh is seeking a national solution with the Federal Government.

US invests US$60m in solar concentrator technologies

 

US Under Secretary of Energy Clarence Albright has announced funding of up to US$60 million over five years to support the development of low-cost Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) technology. “Harnessing the natural and abundant power of the sun and more cost-effectively converting it into energy is an important component of our comprehensive strategy to commercialise and deploy advanced clean, alternative technologies that will allow us to become less reliant on foreign oil,” Albright says. “The Administration’s investment in solar technology will not only bolster innovation, but will help meet the President’s goal of making solar power cost-competitive with conventional sources of electricity over the next seven years,” he adds. The announcement makes funding available for projects from industry and academia that develop advanced thermal storage concepts and heat transfer fluids to further increase the efficiency of concentrating solar power plants. The Department of Energy anticipates making 10 to 25 awards. With a minimum 20 per cent cost share by the private sector for research and development phases and a minimum 50 per cent private cost share for final demonstration phases, the total research investment in advanced solar technologies under this arrangement is expected to exceed US$75 million.

News for Monday 05 May, 2008

 

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