Why Commercial Solar Will Have A Huge Year in 2014

January 1, 2014 2017-10-25T10:08:28 by 12 Comments
meter going to 2014

Smart businesses will see their meters slow down in 2014

As solar fans look towards 2014 with a mixture of dread and anticipation, one thing seems certain; energy prices will continue to rise. Yes that’s right, expect your bills to go up despite Abbott’s promise to reduce them.

People who actually know how the National Electricity Market (NEM) works, understand what the climate-change denying knuckle draggers in government don’t. Even if they do ‘Axe The Tax™’  your electricity and gas prices are going in only one direction: up.  Smart Australian business owners are not expecting their bills to drop anytime soon, no matter what promises Abbott spews forth.

[Read more…]

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Innovation rules OK? Charity’s approach to clean energy fundraising pays dividends

November 24, 2013 2017-10-25T10:09:44 by 21 Comments
CORENA - Citizens doing it for themselves

CORENA – Citizens doing it for themselves

Two subjects we always like to cover in these pages are good news Australian solar stories and innovation and inventiveness with regard to clean energy fund raising. So the planets must have been in alignment when Finn bailed up your correspondent this week at the SQHQ water cooler and told me about CORENA.

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Is solar advocacy about to enter a brand new phase?

July 18, 2013 2017-10-25T10:13:40 by 1 Comment

 

i love solar t-shirt

You’ll never believe who is embracing solar…

This week we take a detour from our usual rants to look at an interesting emerging overseas trend. The changing face of solar advocacy.

Australia tends to follow most trends that start in the United States — some would say slavishly — so this recent article in the superb Grist magazine made me think that the very way solar is positioned may indeed be changing. Support for solar power has long moved from the fringes to being accepted by the mainstream.

But solar advocacy is now being embraced by ultra conservatives as a symbol of free enterprise!

Let me explain. [Read more…]

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Can Solar Trade Wars Save The West’s Solar Manufacturing Industry?

June 24, 2013 2017-10-25T10:14:21 by Leave a Comment

 

EU fighting China

Solar trade wars, what are they good for? Absolutely nuthin! Say it again! Uh! (RIP Edwin Starr)

While the ongoing dispute (AKA solar trade war) between Europe and China continues apace, an article caught your correspondent’s eye this week (and was posted in our popular Facebook Page if you’d like to comment). Perhaps the most interesting part of the article is what it hints at: the inevitable change in focus of solar power production from the West to the East.

Business Spectator covered the demise of the Israeli company Solel, which was written off by owner German industrial giant Siemens when no sellers (mugs?) could be found to take the company off Siemen’s hands. Incredibly (or maybe not so given the Chinese solar panel charge on world markets) the solar company has incurred debts of around US$1.4 billion since its acquisition by Siemens in 2009, according to the article.

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Is Commercial Solar Worth It? Ask This Mining Company…

June 11, 2013 2017-10-25T10:14:48 by Leave a Comment

 

a commercial solar system on a roof

Companies are voting with their wallets when it comes to commercial solar systems

Hot on the heels of our posts last week about the amazing returns commercial solar can bestow upon savvy businesses and  Aussie bankers putting their hands in their pockets to support solar energy projects came the news that WA mining equipment company Diab Engineering has backed solar energy by installing a rooftop solar system at its head office.

Which is interesting solar fans. [Read more…]

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Solar Farms Are A Good Investment – And That’s Official!

June 3, 2013 2023-01-31T11:37:48 by 8 Comments

 

a banker by a solar farm

Aussie bankers are finally investing in solar farms!

It can get a bit tiring sitting here at SQHQ listening to the solar narks peddling the age old line that “solar is completely uneconomic and will destroy our precious mining economy”.

Luckily a solar milestone flashed by our radar last week which drives yet another nail into the argument put forward by those who think that open cast mining is the true path to a 21st century economy. [Read more…]

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The Economics Of Solar Power in Australia [infographic]

May 29, 2013 2017-04-25T10:42:40 by 68 Comments

I put this together to try and get across just how economically compelling solar power is if you look at the cost of electricity over 20 years instead of simply focussing on the up front cost.

If you can get good financing, solar power is an economic no-brainer for most households.

solar infographic

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Solar’s part in globalisation’s downfall

January 21, 2013 2017-10-25T10:18:55 by 1 Comment
Chinese solar panel

Are cheap Chinese solar panels good or bad for Australia?

You remember the spiel readers? About how globalisation was going to make an awful lot of people in the Western world very rich er … save the world through the breaking down of trade barriers. [Read more…]

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Buffett’s big bet on solar

January 6, 2013 2023-07-13T14:23:42 by 46 Comments
Warren Buffett

Does Warren Buffett really love solar – or is it a cynical ploy to grab some government subsidies?

As Australian solar fans considered what the new year will bring in respect of solar energy, news arrived from over the seas of a spectacular bet on solar from one of the world’s richest men. I’m talking of Warren Buffett, the man considered one of the wisest investors in the land (he’s not known as the “Wizard of Omaha” for nothing folks) and his $US2.5 billion swoop for SunPower’s Antelope Valley Solar Projects. The projects are expected to begin construction in 2015. [Read more…]

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What’s behind the Qatari enthusiasm for solar power?

December 3, 2012 2017-10-25T10:20:27 by 1 Comment

Every now and then here at Solar Quotes HQ we like to tear ourselves away from the short sighted solar power policies of our elected representatives and gaze at overseas solar energy trends. Are other countries’ solar sectors hamstrung by suffering cutback after cutback in solar feed-in tariffs? Do they have the equivalent of our conservative regimes cutting back on renewables almost as soon as they gets their bums on the seats in their respective state parliaments?
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