‘frinstance on the demand side, in WA, where 90% of homes have aircon, and 30% have more than one, a trial was able to reduce peak power energy use by 27 percent by remotely switchng off the compressors for a few minutes occassionally, and staggering the intervention across the customer base. People didn’t even notice.

How many coalmines exist just for peak power provision purposes? Oh, and as I say, to provide employment to an otherwise difficult to employ demographic.

If the information is valid surely it should be available? To my mind, this means it is quite likely they have something to hide.

Danny, I think your are on the money. There are of course opportunties for embracing distributed local power generation (and water storage too) but our governments and industry cannot currently get their heads around this.

We need better leadership to get us moving towards a safe climate future.

Yet they’re pushing “clean coal”. The power of the coal mining unions is still strong.

Batchelor’s hissy fit has succeeded in crippling Victoria’s feed-in tariff. Why has he done this? Surely only the power companies benefit by Batchelor’s actions by having their monopoly on supply protected?

Batchelor’s only apparent justification is bullshit: any financial impact on low income households could be offset by a concession.

[link]

Personally i feel that government support is what is driving the solar industry at the moment, and will need to continue for at least 20 years if it is to succeed to any real effect. Although the VIC scheme has the best rate, its 2kW limit is pathetic, and a complete waste of time. I feel the SA model (also taken on in QLD) is the better option. 44c with a 10KVa per phase limit. Without going too much into converting kva to kw this will allow any homes or small business with a 3 phase connection to have an installation around 25kW. Thats huge! even if you get your panels cheap it will still cost in excess of $230,000 for an installation of that size, and to be rewarded 44c/kWh for your excess is great! If a national scheme is to come into play, lets hope they follow SA’s lead.

On another note it is a real shame to see that Feed in Tarrifs (FiT’s) only apply to direct fed solar. No other technologies are included even though (as already pointed out) are much more cost effective.

What would be even better is having an australian approved “over unity magnetic motor”. Something like what Perendev developed overseas. $120,000 will get you a 300kW free power generator puchased, shiped, taxed, approved to australian standards and connected to the grid with a return period arround 5 years (with a wholesale buyback rate). Thats the way to go, but it will be a year or two before this takes off in Aus.

Untill new solar and other technologies are available and prices drop the only thing making it feasable (appart from the positive environmental effects) is the goverment rebate of $8000. Get in quick though. The 1kW system is the best bang for buck, but will not do a whole lot for you! At least it will add value to your home and sets an example for future generations.

Good thread guys! Interesting to read everyones views. I could ramble all day, but i better get back to work.

in the SA scheme they have found that with half hourly metering you could export up to 25% of the energy. if really sunny spot, perhaps up to 50%…

of course its not as good as gross for the owner, but i guess its a way of balancing a huge pay off to the upper classes but appeasing the likes of BP solar and green groups…

although the 2kW cap is a shame as schools and big business could have come on board.

“Lobbyists argued the Government’s scheme would attract wealthy families with a holiday home by the beach but do little to win over people who spend more time at home.”
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/row-led-to-watereddown-solar-plan/2008/05/07/1210131069596.html

And Peterc @103 thankyou for the great practical info. I could not get the first 2 links to open, unfortunately. Probably at my end, though.

The Brumby Govt’s cap on 2kw for the FIT is a Catch 22. You need about 2kW to produce enough to generate a reasonable net output to the grid, but arrays over 2Kw don’t get the FIT.

With my 1 kw system I fully expect to generate excess electricity all summer long. Maybe your house needs to become more efficient, peterc?

Our smallish house is 6 star with the most energy efficient appliances we could buy: [Link]. Happy for any specific suggestions from you on how we can make it more efficient. It is about twice as efficient as the average new home built under our current (deficient) five star standards. We get a small net metering payment on our bill from our 1.5kw array.

The point is that EVERY watt of green power generated should get the FIT paid - as is the case in Germany - and that is why they now have 4,000 times as much solar capacity as Australia. It is proven business model that works - and an almost total greenwash cop out by Vic, SA and QLD Labor.

If you think you will make money on a 1kw system you will have to turn off your fridge and only use CF lights. No electric heating or cooking, no iron, no electric jug etc. Most houses will generate a significant excess with an array >2 to 2.5kw, as per information provided by wbb, which is spot on. More info here: [Link]

Don’t forget that gas has signficant GHG emissions too, albeit lower than electricity. But when used for heating and hotwater, your total GHG emissions from gas would exceed those from electricity (with no solar).

Labor had a real chance to do something significant this time - they have blown it - largely due to Peter Batchelor’s intervention apparently: [Link]

This is a disgrace.

If they’re paying the feed-in rate for the instantaneous excess, most people will get some payment.

At $0.60 per kWh, the proposed feed-in tariff appears to be the highest in the country, but very few people will ever get paid for the power they produce.

* The average Australian household consumption is 16kWh a day.
* In Victoria, we get an average of about 4.1 hours of sun.
* The maximum system size to be eligible for the feed in tariff is 2kW

This means the largest eligible system will produce an annual average of 8.2kWh per day, about half of an average house’s daily energy requirements. Given that you only get paid for excess power produced, very very few people will ever get paid for the power they produce.

With the exception of the American state of Texas, Australia is the only country considering a net feed-in tariff. Even China has better feed-in tariffs than Australia.

And thanks Tim for the post on greensblog. I hadn’t seen the max. of 2kW for FIT. You were spot on with ‘good for a few press releases’ comment.

Feed-in tariffs may have a role to play as a technology policy by decreasing the price of photovoltaics by increasing production (learning curves are a good way of looking at this). However, their direct role in climate change mitigation is quite minimal.