It’s not just the future of ARENA hanging in the balance it seems – all subsidy support for solar power in Australia may face a new threat.
The Guardian reports chairman of the Coalition’s backbench environment and energy committee, Craig Kelly, wants wind and solar funding to be re-routed to research into ‘technological breakthroughs’.
“I’m in Bjorn Lomborg camp, you have to put resources into a technological breakthroughs because [wind and solar] is on periphery and having so little effect,” Mr. Kelly is quoted as saying.
Bjorn Lomborg, author of “The Skeptical Environmentalist”, believes global warming is real but “isn’t the end of the world”. He questions future scenarios, temperature increase predictions and methods of addressing the impacts of climate change.
In 2014, the then-Abbott government offered the University of Western Australia $4 million to establish a “consensus centre” with Lomborg as director. The offer was ultimately rejected by the University.
Mr. Kelly wants to see a cost-benefit analysis of policies that support wind and solar; but it seems he has already arrived at conclusions that some might call misguided.
“By subsidising the cost of solar, that puts upward pressure on electricity prices and by setting targets for certain emissions, that puts upward pressure on prices.”
These were arguments continually used during the reign of now ex-Prime Minister Tony Abbott; arguments that were refuted time and time again with regard to the level of impact and duration.
Currently, policies in place relating to small-scale solar reduce the cost of installing solar panels significantly – by up to many thousands of dollars. If these policies were changed and the subsidies disappeared; millions of Australians wanting to take more control over their energy costs through the use of solar power systems could be impacted.
Such a situation would also have a knock-on effect on employment, threatening thousands of jobs in the solar sector alone.
As things stand, the major subsidy for solar power systems will reduce at the end of this year – and will continue to gradually decrease.
With the looming reduction in mind and this new potential threat emerging; perhaps those who have been putting off going solar should reconsider their position and take advantage of subsidies at the level currently available.
Top Right Image Credit: BigStock
