Presented by Energy Matters team member Virginia, we take a look at some of the stories from Australia and around the world recently added to our renewable energy news section.
In this episode, Virginia reports on South Australians being slugged hard on utility bills, construction of the Mildura Solar Farm, Victoria’s solar feed in tariff review announced and air conditioning’s impact on peak power loads.
In this episode:
– An analysis by South Australia’s Advertiser newspaper shows the combined cost of utility bills for the average household in the state will be over $3,200 this financial year. This figure is a sixteen percent jump on last financial year. Read more.
– Construction of the initial stage of what will be Australia’s largest solar farm has begun. The first stage involves the construction of a 2MW facility in Mildura and is scheduled to be completed late this year. The installation will be made up of 60 solar dish systems. The facility is being constructed by Solar Systems, a subsidiary of Silex Systems Ltd and will total 100MW in capacity, assuming satisfactory performance of the initial stage. Read more.
– The Victorian Treasurer has directed the Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission to conduct an inquiry into solar feed in tariff arrangements in the State. Read more.
– Just a decade ago, only a quarter of Queensland homes were air-conditioned; usually by a single unit. Today, there are 1.6 million air conditioners installed in 74 per cent of homes. All over Australia there has been a massive rise in air-conditioning usage. This has had major ramifications for Australia’s electricity infrastructure and is partly responsible for more peak power plants to cope with the extra load. Read more.
