NEWSFLASH - Australia's Off Grid Solar Rebates Ended

 

UPDATE Wednesday June 24: Off grid solar installations will be covered under the new Solar Credits scheme

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The Australian Government has announced the Renewable Remote Power Generation Program (RRPGP) that provided substantial subsidies for off grid wind and solar power is closed to new applications except in Western Australia.
  
The shock announcement states that as of 8.30 am Australian Eastern Standard Time today, pre-purchase applications are no longer being accepted for the Renewable Remote Power Generation Program. All pre-purchase applications submitted to the relevant state program administrator prior to this will be assessed according to the program guidelines.
 
The RRPGP program commenced on 23 July 2007 and provided  50% rebate on wind and solar power systems for households, businesses, communities, not-for-profit, business, government, schools and other organisations in  remote areas of Australia; allowing many people in rural areas affordable access to renewable energy solutions.
 
This latest announcements is a huge blow for people in remote areas and adds to the turmoil recently experienced in the Australian solar industry through the premature end to the $8,000 grid connect solar rebate; which was immediately replaced by the Solar Credits scheme. 
 
Legislation necessary for the issue of rebates under Solar Credits program has still not yet been passed. The legislation was stalled last week as it is part of the new Renewable Energy Target legislation which is also tied to the Government's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.
 
It is not known at this point in time if off grid solar installations will also be covered by the new Solar Credits program; but existing Renewable Energy Certificates incentives that can help decrease the cost of a system will definitely stay in place. 

As the situation is still unfolding, we will update this item with new information as it comes to hand.
 

Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Nuclear Power

 

Nuclear power has been increasingly hailed by lobbyists as a source of clean, cheap and safe power; but cost blowouts in the construction and maintenance of new nuclear plants, along with their need for massive amounts of water and continuing radioactive waste storage issues, is again making renewable energy look to be the only really viable option to power our future.
   
According to a recent study by economist Dr. Mark Cooper, a senior fellow for economic analysis at the Institute for Energy and the Environment at Vermont Law School, the cost of electricity generated by new nuclear reactors would be (USD) 12-20 cents per kilowatt hour, whereas increased energy efficiency and renewable energy sourced power would cost around 6 cents per kilowatt hour.
 
This translates to USD $1.9 trillion to $4.1 trillion more over the life of 100 new nuclear reactors.
 
Projected construction and maintenance costs for nuclear plants have quadrupled since the start of the nuclear renaissance in 2000. The required massive subsidies from taxpayers and ratepayers would not change the real cost of nuclear reactors, they would just shift the risks to the public, according to the report.
 
According to Dr. Cooper: "We are literally seeing nuclear reactor history repeat itself. The "Great Bandwagon Market" that ended so badly for consumers in the 1970s and 1980s was driven by advocates who confused hope and hype with reality." This latest version of the "Great Bandwagon Market" will see reactors cost seven times as much as the cost projection for the first reactors of the Great Bandwagon Market.
  
Cost has always been one of the the major issues haunting the solar power and wind energy industry, but the public have been generally unaware of the massive tax payer funded subsidises fossil fuels and current nuclear reactors receive. It's only been in very recent times that renewable energy is starting to see levels of funding to help put it on equal footing with non-renewable power generation technology.
  
The full study can be read online here.
  

News for Friday 19 June, 2009

 

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