Solar Savings In NSW

Archived News, Posted on 06 Jun 2011

The Australian solar industry has issued a further challenge to the NSW government estimates of the blow-out in the solar bonus scheme, and says it has identified up to $1 billion in savings that could be made from the government estimates of $1.83 billion. The industry, in a report released on Monday that has been assessed by accounting firm Ernst & Young, has repeated its contention that the government estimates are based on wrong data, and could over-estimate the impact by $240 million because the government has assumed over-ambitious production levels from rooftop solar.

The industry also canvasses a range of scenarios that would involve contributions from energy retailers – either at a 6c/kWh, 14c/kWh or on a 1:1 net tariff – and not involve the controversial retrospective change. The industry said final numbers were difficult to pinpoint because the government had not released data on how many customers had signed up for rooftop solar (or when) but that the savings could extend from $414 million to $851 million in some scenarios, and up to $1.01 billion if the 60c/kWh tariff was honoured for the 238MW of applications made before last October, with all subsequent applications transferred to a 1:1 net tariff from the end of this year.

“What this report shows is that we can find even greater savings than what the government was looking for, without the need for retrospective legislation, and to ensure we can protect jobs in the industry,” said John Grimes, the head of the Australian Solar Energy Society. But such a plan is likely to be resisted by retailers, who have argued that they should not be liable to pay the equivalent of retail energy prices for electrons from rooftop solar because of built-in network and distribution costs.


Published 9:18 AM, 6 Jun 2011

Giles Parkinson