This article was originally posted at Energy Matters. View the original post here. Out of 24,000 submissions received during the consultation process of the Renewable Energy Target review, far fewer than 1% called for a reduction in the RET. According … Continue reading RET Review Submissions – How The Numbers Stack Up
This article was originally posted at The Conversation. View the original post here. Reducing the renewable energy target would cost the federal budget about $680 million more to meet Australia’s target of 5% emissions reduction by 2020, according to modelling … Continue reading Renewable Energy Target cut would hit budget: modelling
This article originally posted at Clean Technica. View the original post here. While Australia’s carbon policy seems to have hit a dead-end, good news from the renewable energy sector continues to pour in. The country will soon see construction begin … Continue reading Construction Set To Begin At Australia’s First Single-Axis Tracking Solar PV Project
This article originally posted at Green Tech Media. View the original post here. Wind, solar, geothermal and biomass are surpassing hydropower as the dominant forms of renewable electricity. And according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, this new … Continue reading Renewables Rising: Wind, Solar, Geothermal and Biomass Will Top Hydropower in 2014 (US)
This article originally posted at The Climate Group. View the original post here. LONDON: Despite a change in government policy, Australia’s solar industry has expanded considerably in recent years, and today some 2.6 million Australians are getting some of their electricity … Continue reading Australian solar market still strong, with over 3,200MW installed capacity
Originally posted at RenewEconomy. View the original post here.
Solar PV module prices in Australia were cut in half over the 2012-2013 period, falling from $1.50/Wp in 2012 to 0.75/Wp in 2013, according to the latest report from the Australian Photovoltaic Institute (APVI).
The report, PV in Australia 2013, also notes that installed prices for small-scale rooftop solar systems dropped by just under 20 per cent – from an average of around $3 to around $2.50/Wp – in a year that saw the largest market for PV installations in Australia since 2009.
“With PV having reached grid parity against retail electricity tariffs in many parts of Australia and government support reducing, the market is stabilising but remaining buoyant,” the report said.
APVI said that continued increases in grid electricity prices mean PV remained a cost effective option for homeowners across Australia, even without subsidies, and was of increasing interest to the commercial sector.
The report noted that over 1 million Australian homes now had a solar PV system installed, with residential penetration levels averaging 15 per cent nationwide, and over 30 per cent in some areas.
According to the report, the majority of installations in 2013 took advantage of incentives under the federal government’s Renewable Energy Target (RET) scheme, with further drivers provided by grants and finance assistance from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. Continue reading “Solar PV module prices fell 50% in 2013, storage set to follow”
Originally posted at RenewEconomy. View the original post here. As Prime Minister Tony Abbott again attacked renewables for their presumed impact on consumer bills, wholesale energy prices in Queensland have slumped to unprecendented lows as rooftop solar continues to boom … Continue reading Energy prices crash as Queensland solar takes hold
A new landmark report by the Climate Council has investigated the future of Australia’s electricity sector, finding that a swifter transition to a clean energy future is required in order to prevent increased risk and cost. The summary of the report’s findings (below) has been taken its entirety from the original post, which can be found here.
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Internationally, the energy sector accounts for the largest proportion of greenhouse gas (gHg) emissions, which are the main drivers of climate change. Limiting temperature rise to a global average of 2 °C, the internationally agreed level that may avoid dangerous climate change, requires large scale changes in the electricity sector and a tripling of low-carbon energy by 2050.
Yet, australia’s electricity is largely generated by ageing, inefficient coal-fired power plants and there are currently no plans, nor a national discussion on the future of the electricity sector and options to significantly reduce its emissions. Delaying the shift to a low carbon future increases the likely risks and costs of transition to a low carbon future in the electricity sector, where it typically takes a decade or more to plan, permit, finance and build major new power infrastructure.
READ THE FULL REPORT Continue reading “Australia’s Electricity Sector: Ageing, Inefficient and Unprepared”
Published at Renew Economy.
In the last week of May, Friends of the Earth visited solar homeowners in affluent bayside suburb of Brighton East.
We had previously visited Victoria’s leading solar suburbs of Werribee, Hoppers Crossing and Point Cook. Our trip to Brighton East was to get a sense of what people in a long-standing Liberal seat think of the Warbuton Review and Australia’s energy future.
It turns out that there isn’t really any difference between the two. Like the residents of Melbourne’s western suburbs, the people we spoke with in the seat of Goldstein – the seat held by senior cabinet minister, Andrew Robb – see renewables as the future. The people we spoke with don’t want politicians to weaken the Renewable Energy Target.
Upon arriving at the Coats household in Brighton East we were presented with the inverter and a quick briefing on how much electricity the rooftop solar set up had produced to date.
The Coats’ 1.5kW solar energy system has made the home a suburban a clean energy power station. For the past five years, it has covered all of the household’s electricity needs.
“It’s fantastic knowing that we never have to worry about another electricity bill. In fact, our energy company owes us,” said Mrs Coats. “It also gives us a lot of pleasure to know that we’re producing our own clean energy and feeding it back into the grid for other people to use.”
Every solar homeowner I meet has an immense pride about their solar system. There’s a sense of achievement in generating your own energy and acting to address climate change. And, let’s not forget the power bill that is now perpetually in credit.
There are an estimated 2,792 solar homes in the seat of Goldstein. Solar has delivered $1.56 million worth of savings on power bills to those who have panels. In the wake of the Victorian government’s decision to reduce the feed-in tariff for solar, the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES) is the next best support mechanism for those with solar aspirations. Continue reading “RET Road Trip #7 – Blue seats and renewable energy”
Published by Climate Progress. View original article.
Despite Congressional refusal to extend tax benefits for clean energy producers, the American economy is still adding thousands of clean energy jobs — just way less than it did when those benefits were intact.
According to a report released Thursday by nonpartisan business group Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2), about 5,600 new clean energy and clean transportation jobs were announced throughout the country in the first three months of 2014, a huge decline from the 12,000 such jobs reported in the first quarter of 2013. Part of this decline is due to Congress’ failure to renew the Production Tax Credit (PTC) for wind energy, a $13 billion tax break to the wind industry to help them compete with fossil fuels. Continue reading “No Thanks To Congress, America Has Added 5,600 New Clean Energy Jobs In 2014”
yes2renewables.org 