Focus on solar microgrids as fossil fuel wavers

October 13, 2014 2017-10-25T09:59:27 by 3 Comments
microgrid with solar and PV

Taking whole streets (or villages) off the grid is likely to become more common.

What role will community-based solar microgrids play as Aussies look for environmental and affordable energy alternatives?

First, I should explain what a microgrid actually is. It is simply a cluster of buildings, all connected together electrically, but not connected to the wider electric grid. An example would be taking your whole street off the grid instead of simply your own home. If you do this, you can share solar generation and battery storage among other things. As feed in tariffs get lower, this becomes more attractive. Wouldn’t you rather your sell excess solar energy to your neighbour for a fair price than be forced to sell it to someone like Energex for a miserly 6c per kWh?

According to analysts Frost and Sullivan’s report “Analysis of the Asia-Pacific Microgrid Market” the microgrid electrification (including solar programs) is expected to reach a sales figure of $813 million by 2020, growing at an expected astonishing rise of 38.3 percent over that of 2013. Countries surveyed by Frost and Sullivan include Japan, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines and (yes!) Australia. [Read more…]

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New community owned energy retailer, Northern Rivers Energy, impresses with vision

October 9, 2014 2017-10-25T09:59:41 by 3 Comments
community solar

Sick of AGL, Origin and their greedy bedfellows? Then start your own retailer!

Fans of community energy got a boost this week with news of plans to launch the country’s first community owned energy retailer. Based in the Northern Rivers region of NSW, a consortium of citizens under the name of Northern Rivers Energy (NRE) has “…won a $54,000 grant to develop a business plan and conduct a feasibility study,” according to RenewEconomy’s Giles Parkinson.

The plan shows again how community-based renewable energy such as solar power can be accessed and owned by the community. [Read more…]

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Big end of town bails out of coal

September 29, 2014 2017-10-25T09:59:59 by 10 Comments
coal cash and solar

The smart money is moving out of coal. Hurrah!

Ever considered the consequences of mega coal companies investing in solar power?

This week news came through of the world’s largest coal miner — Coal India Limited — pumping a cool $1.2 billion into the development of 1,000MW solar plants in the country.

Under huge pressure to source their energy in a more environmentally friendly way, the public-owned company is helping carry out the new Indian government’s effort to promote domestic renewable energy. Researching sites to establish the solar plants throughout the various states has already begun.

However this news — major though it was — paled into insignificance compared to reports this week that the philanthropic arm of the Rockefeller family is leading an international move away from fossil fuels and towards clean energy. [Read more…]

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Focus shifts to solar power in developing countries

September 16, 2014 2017-10-25T10:00:19 by 5 Comments
solar in south africa

A solar powered village in Zululand, South Africa.

Industrialised countries have seen an explosion in renewable energy in recent years but are developing countries proceeding at the same rate? An announcement this week by Norfund — the Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries — has highlighted the role that renewables play in the developing world. Indeed renewables like solar power in developing countries looks to be The Next Big Thing in clean energy investment.

Norfund is to partner with Norwegian solar investment company Scatec Solar to provide an expansion of solar power investment into all areas in which the Norwegian government currently operates. Existing solar investment partnerships are already in place with the two combining in 190 MW of clean energy projects in solar projects in South Africa and Rwanda.

[Read more…]

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Solar technology revolution coming: UBS

September 2, 2014 2017-10-25T10:00:39 by 8 Comments
fist in air and solar panels

Those greenie lefties at UBS bank think a solar revolution is coming.

The dominant role that renewables — particularly solar — will play in the future of our energy consumption seems to have finally sunk in at the Big End of Town. In Europe at least. A recent report from financial giant UBS of Zurich is predicting nothing less than a solar technology revolution.

The hard-hitting briefing paper for investors and clients questions the long term relevance of large-scale coal-fired power plants by predicting their demise within 10-20 years. It says that solar energy and storage will be

“disruptive technologies for the electricity system” and that “steeply declining battery and solar system costs will enable multiple new applications” in the energy sector.

[Read more…]

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Is midday the new off peak – thanks to solar?

August 27, 2014 2019-04-15T14:50:07 by 4 Comments
pylons

Pylons carrying electricity at $0.005 per kWh. Last Saturday.

I was at home on a cloudy Saturday morning in Adelaide last week, performing some much needed repairs on my puppets in between refreshing my knowledge of chemistry. (Apparently everything is still made of atoms.) Then I noticed through a crack in the wall that the sun had come out and I opened the electrically operated steel shutters to see that, although there were still patches of cloud around, most of Adelaide was bathed in glorious noon sunshine.

On a whim I decided to check what effect this break in the weather had on grid demand and so I went to the Australian Electricity Market Operator’s site. Fortunately I could do this via internet and so didn’t have far to walk. I saw there had been quite a steep decline in demand which apparently had gone hand in hand with the clearing skies. [Read more…]

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The Solar Council Aren’t Lying. Your Government Is.

August 22, 2014 2019-04-15T14:38:41 by 9 Comments

The government has painted a big bullseye on solar power.

They’ve got it in their sights. They want the renewable energy target (RET) repealed and they’ll do just about anything to make that happen.

Well, anything but come right out and say, “We’re against renewable energy because because we want to protect the fat wallets of our buddies in Big Energy”.

No, they can’t bring themselves to be that honest.

Instead, they’ve engaged in an almost comical game. A game where they attempt to justify their solar enmity with numbers.

The problem, of course, is that numbers don’t lie. [Read more…]

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Over 20,000 solar workers expected by 2018 despite Abbott’s efforts

August 11, 2014 2017-10-25T10:01:27 by 23 Comments
panels going on straw house

Hot water panels for SQHQ, proudly installed by some of Australia’s 13,000 solar workers.

Jobs in the Australian solar industry is a topic that doesn’t excite the pro-fossil fuel press and shriekback radio all that much. Instead the headlines and radio waves over renewables are dominated by imagined consequences of the carbon tax and the repetition of outright lies about the consequences of the Renewable Energy Target (RET).

Witness the recent pressure brought to bear as pro-fossil fuel lobbyists attempt to sway the stacked review board with outright mistruths on the benefit of the Renewable Energy Target. Truth has definitely been the first casualty as the war on renewables enters its next, more destructive phase.

[Read more…]

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Fossil fuel lobby on thin ice in RET argument

July 28, 2014 2017-10-25T10:01:52 by 8 Comments
Thin ice sign and a power station

Ever wondered how to lie with statistics? Ask a fossil fuel lobbyist.

As the renewable energy target review commission prepares to bring down its findings, a battle royale rages over how to interpret the economic modelling. Stacked with climate change deniers and fossil fuel-connected industry types, the review committee has been well and truly nobbled. It’s decision is pretty much sealed. For as Basic Governance 101 tells us: you never appoint a review unless you know the outcome. [Read more…]

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Is Solar Leasing a Better Option than Buying Outright?

April 3, 2014 2014-10-27T09:15:38 by 8 Comments
usa and aussie flags

Should Aussies follow the American way when it comes to solar leasing?

Are Americans are getting their butts handed to them with long-term solar leasing? And what can us Aussies do to come out ahead?

It seems the suits perched in the top floor offices on Wall-Street are finally taking notice of solar energy.  And that could spell bad news for American consumers.

American energy firms like SolarCity, a growing solar-energy giant based out of California, have been offering long-term, relatively affordable leasing arrangements to consumers for years; either by financing the installation of panels or charging users by the kilowatt-hour and selling the remaining power back to the grid.

But those arrangements are about to get a whole lot more expensive now that they, and firms like them, are going public.  Why?  Because their shareholders, many of them massive hedge funds and banks, are demanding an American-sized profit which can only be attained through skyrocketing costs to consumers.    [Read more…]

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