Small scale solar panel, solar hot water, heat pump, wind and micro hydro systems installed in Australia have eclipsed the 2 million mark.
According to the Clean Energy Regulator, 1,161,245 systems are solar panel arrays, 669,281 are solar hot water systems and 173,101 units are heat pumps. Wind, small scale hydro and other technologies make up the balance.
The collective capacity of all small scale solar, wind and hydro systems as at January 1 was 3,097,440 kW, with 3,096,067 kW of that total solar PV.
Australia bypassed the 1 million mark for small scale solar PV systems in March last year. By November 2013, 13 per cent of homes in Australia had a solar panel system and 3 million Australians lived in a solar household.
While the pace of uptake has slowed; there is still a great passion for solar panels and renewable energy generally throughout the nation.
In a survey carried out late last year by CHOICE, the majority of respondents indicated that while they want to see cheaper mains-supplied electricity; they don’t want that to be at the cost of renewables. In fact, double the percentage of respondents strongly opposed such action compared to those who strongly supported it.
Even with such strong community support for solar power, 2014 could prove to be a challenging year for the technology in Australia. The Abbott government appears to still have renewables in its crosshairs and misinformation is being echoed and amplified by the likes of Queensland’s Senator Ron Boswell and Maurice Newman, Chair of Prime Minister Abbott’s Business Advisory Council.
If support for installing small scale solar power systems was to be totally wiped out after this year’s Renewable Energy Target review, it could add thousands on to the cost of a solar panel array for many. The Coalition’s Direct Action solar-related initiatives are still unclear; however what support there is appears to have a focus on low income households and solar hot water.
