Home: Renewable Energy News: Monday 17 August, 2009

Renewable Energy News

MONDAY 17 AUGUST, 2009 |

Australian Solar Credits Update

Solar credits update
While the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme was defeated in Australia's Parliament last week, there was no rest for politicians on the weekend as they scrambled to negotiate a decoupling of the Renewable Energy Target legislation contained within the CPRS.

After the defeat, enormous pressure was brought to bear upon the government by political rivals, industry and the community to pass the RET component, allowing for funding to be released for a number of programs, including the long awaited Solar Credits program.

This promised funding would not only benefit thousands of Australian households and businesses by finally providing heavy subsidisation for the installation of solar power systems, but also secure jobs currently under threat due to the absence of such a program after the solar industry was promised a smooth transition.

At this point, it looks likely the legislation will be passed this week and according to the Clean Energy Council, the only thing that can stand in its way is "political point scoring and gamesmanship."

The CEC says it will continue to push for amendments ensure the government's promised target of 45,000 GWh of clean energy by 2020 is reached, and that all 'phantom' renewable energy certificates created by the Solar Credits scheme to assist household installation of solar panels are reintroduced into the target.

The Greens have welcomed news that the increased Renewable Energy Target legislation will be implemented swiftly, but Greens Deputy Leader, Senator Christine Milne expressed concern that a deal may be struck between the Government and Coalition where the community will pay to install renewable energy so that polluters can benefit from the cheap energy they produce.

The Greens' have proposed amendments to the RET including a lifting of the the target to 30% by 2020, fixing the problem of 'phantom renewable energy credits' created by the solar multiplier, lifting the size limit on solar installations and ultimately phasing out the Solar Credits scheme with a gross national feed-in tariff for all forms of renewable energy.

Energy Matters will continue to closely monitor the situation and will provide updates in our news section as new information regarding the status of the Solar Credits program becomes available.

Rooftop Solar Panels Decrease Power Line Costs

Electricity transmission substation
Like many places around the world, California has big goals in terms of renewable energy. The US state has set a target of obtaining 33% of the its electricity from renewables by 2020.

While integrating large solar farms around the state and sourcing green energy from other states will help meet that goal, a major challenge is the huge investment needed in transmission infrastructure between now and 2020. A revamp of electricity transmission infrastructure is required regardless of California's energy supply mix due to a rapidly increasing population and ageing existing electricity infrastructure requiring replacement.

According to Smart Meters, a resource site dedicated to smart energy solutions, a company focused on the energy transmission grid has proposed the construction of a massive transmission project that will cost between USD$10 billion and $12 billion. Nicknamed the "Green Power Express", the project will link wind farms in multiple states to load centres in the upper Midwest.

ITC Holdings says that the Green Power Express may result in a reduction of up to 34 million metric tons of carbon emissions, which is the equivalent of the annual emissions of about seven to nine 600 megawatt coal plants, or nine to 11 million automobiles.

The enemy of any transmission line technology is line loss. The further the distance from the point of generation to the point of consumption, the more electricity is lost; usually as heat. Transmission and distribution losses in the USA and UK are around 7%. When it comes to coal-fired power generation, that translates to millions of tonnes of coal having to be burned to make up for the loss; adding to existing carbon dioxide emissions woes.

Smart Meters points out that if rooftop solar panels in conjunction with grid connect systems were fully utilised throughout the sun-soaked state – and utilities integrated the generated power using smart grid technology – many of the new transmission lines won’t be necessary as the point of consumption will be much closer to the point of generation; in some cases as little as a few meters.