According to Australia’s Clean Energy Council (CEC), the cost of supporting residential solar power is a “drop in the ocean” stacked up against the billions of dollars in network costs that it says are primarily responsible for driving a spike in electricity prices in NSW.
“The Australian Energy Regulator estimates the cost of improving the electricity network in NSW at more than $14 billion over five years. Based on the 50 MW installed under the NSW Solar Bonus Scheme, the cost of solar electricity from the current scheme is less than 4 per cent of this,” says Clean Energy Council Chief Executive Matthew Warren.
Mr Warren was responding to claims made by electricity generators in the media today.
“Effectively the NSW government is building a peak load power station across the rooftops of NSW, which is co-funded by householders and the network,” he said.
While it’s understandable traditional power generators would see solar households as a threat to their revenue and accusations of solar power being a primary driver of increased electricity costs are nothing new; as Australia moves towards a carbon-constrained future and playing its role in reducing the possibly catastrophic effects of climate change, consumers need to understand the era of cheap energy is over – even when it comes to fossil fuel based electricity generation.
However, through increased solar power uptake coupled with rising general electricity costs due to necessary upgrades to Australia’s ageing and inefficient electricity infrastructure, this form of clean, renewable energy is predicted to achieve grid parity with filthy coal fired power generation in the not too distant future – even though it hasn’t enjoyed a similar level of tax-payer funded support that the fossil fuel industry has for decades.
