{"id":601,"date":"2011-08-19T16:36:27","date_gmt":"2011-08-19T06:06:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=601"},"modified":"2017-10-25T10:38:37","modified_gmt":"2017-10-25T00:08:37","slug":"subsidies-in-frame-as-silex-ends-local-solar-cell-manufacture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/subsidies-in-frame-as-silex-ends-local-solar-cell-manufacture\/","title":{"rendered":"Subsidies in Frame as Silex Ends Local Solar Cell Manufacture"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>By Rich Bowden<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Solar industry news in NSW this week has been dominated by the announcement by Silex Solar, the last company to manufacture solar cells in this country, that it will discontinue the production of locally made cells. (Note the <strong>solar cells<\/strong> are the black, round, saucer sized, plates of silicon, which make up <strong>solar panels<\/strong>).<\/p>\n<p>In an announcement earlier this week, the company said while it would continue to manufacture solar <strong>panels<\/strong> at its Homebush, Sydney plant, it would do so with solar <strong>cells<\/strong> from an as yet unnamed overseas country (read China).<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The decision is expected to cost around 30 jobs and has been taken as a sign of a marked downturn in the state\u2019s solar industry.<\/p>\n<p>Interestingly, the Silex head pointed to a growing lack of government support as one of the reasons for the decision. Mr Michael Goldsworthy explained that his company could not compete with cheap overseas imports of solar panels (again read China ) claiming that the cost of a solar panel had halved in two years.<\/p>\n<p>While this has been excellent news for anyone considering purchasing solar panels, (pause for muted cheers from SQ readers) the Silex head hinted that the prevailing lack of Australian government backing for renewable energy had meant his company is now unable to compete effectively in its own backyard.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Right at the time when the federal government is claiming they have got all sorts of benefits for renewables we don&#8217;t see a cent,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We don&#8217;t want government handouts; we want a level playing field,&#8221; he was quoted as saying by The Australian.<\/p>\n<p>But the question should be asked; do our solar manufacturers need to rely to our fickle governments to supply ever-dwindling handouts? Surely automation and innovation could stand our nascent solar industry in good stead? (Why isn\u2019t anyone producing a solar panel with integrated mounting, microinverter and WIFI yet?)<\/p>\n<p>One argument in favour of a solar industry standing on its own two feet (from a U.S. perspective) is provided by the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nrel.gov\/\">National Renewable Energy Laboratory<\/a>\u2019s Michael Woodhouse. He explains in <a href=\"http:\/\/e360.yale.edu\/feature\/a_solar_panel_on_every_roof_in_us_still_a_distant_dream\/2434\/?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YaleEnvironment360+%28Yale+Environment+360%29\">this recent Yale article<\/a> that if solar energy is considered on a US regional rather than a national level, it may already have achieved close to grid parity \u2014 defined as the tipping point where the means of generating solar power becomes as cheap as fossil fuel-generated energy.<\/p>\n<p>Woodhouse, refreshingly, points to a solar future without the need for reliance on government subsidies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen people say PV will never compete without subsidies, that is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s a really incomplete picture.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to the article:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe key, he said, is to look at the cost of electricity on a regional and state level rather than overall. Woodhouse has conducted analyses of several specific locales. For example, in Santa Barbara, California, he said that right now, when the 30 percent federal tax credit for solar is included, residential solar power costs about 13.8 cents per kilowatt-hour. The average price of electricity across the state, meanwhile \u2013 meaning, from all sources \u2013 is 15.1 cents per kilowatt-hour. In other words, solar power might already have achieved \u201cgrid parity\u201d in Santa Barbara.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So the US has cheaper grid electricity than us by a long way (I pay 25c per kWh) yet some states\u2019 residents can still buy solar safe in the knowledge that it is the cheapest electricity available due to the long term incentive in terms of Federal tax credits.<\/p>\n<p>Andrew Blakers, director of the Australian National University\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/cses.anu.edu.au\/\">Centre For Sustainable Energy Systems<\/a>, believes costs are being constantly driven down through the mass production of solar technology and with a very modest ,long term subsidy, solar power can be transitioned to becoming the cheapest form of energy available in Australia:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSustained expansion is rapidly driving down costs \u2013 they have halved since 2007. Further large cost reductions are in train, through both technical innovation and mass-production learning curves,\u201d he said in <a href=\"http:\/\/theconversation.edu.au\/solar-will-force-coal-and-nuclear-out-of-the-energy-business-2557\">this article<\/a> written for The Conversation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s possible to estimate the cost of subsidising and accelerating solar technology to provide most of the world\u2019s electricity. We add up the declining price difference year by year between solar and <strong>wholesale<\/strong> fossil energy, until it reaches zero. It would cost about a trillion dollars, spread over the next 20 years. That works out at $1 per week for each of the billion citizens of rich countries like Australia,\u201d Blakers added.<\/p>\n<p>Note that the <strong>wholesale<\/strong> price of coal power is about 8c per kWh \u2013 the 25c you and I pay is the <strong>retail<\/strong> price and includes distribution costs and profit margins. If you believe that because solar is generated at source at peak times and shouldn\u2019t have all the network costs tacked on then the unsubsidised price parity of solar and coal is probably less than 4-5 years away.<\/p>\n<p>But can subsidy-free <strong>wholesale<\/strong> solar power be cheaper than coal? Perhaps it\u2019s possible. Have your say below or join in the discussion at our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarQuotes\">Facebook Page<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Rich Bowden Solar industry news in NSW this week has been dominated by the announcement by Silex Solar, the last company to manufacture solar cells in this country, that it will discontinue the production of locally made cells. (Note the solar cells are the black, round, saucer sized, plates of silicon, which make up [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[47],"class_list":["post-601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economics","tag-electricity-prices","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Subsidies in Frame as Silex Ends Local Solar Cell Manufacture<\/title>\n<meta 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as rare as hen\u2019s teeth lately. With the taking of the cudgels by state governments to the highly successful feed-in tariffs (can someone please explain that again \u2014 just one more time!), to the slow sinking of the fed\u2019s Solar\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Big Solar&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Big Solar","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/utility-scale-solar\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"solar concentrator mock up","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/solar_dish.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":682,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/silex-solar-closes-its-doors-and-blames-usual-suspects\/","url_meta":{"origin":601,"position":1},"title":"Silex Solar Closes its Doors and Blames Usual Suspects","author":"Staff Writer","date":"November 18, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Somewhere in between the strenuous media frenzies that accorded the visit of The Windsors and later the Obamas, the Australian media managed to find time to report on the final demise of the (previously) only manufacturer of solar cells in this country. The Homebush, NSW-based SilexSolar company \u2014 previously associated\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Economics Of Solar&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Economics Of Solar","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/economics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sad Silex Solar","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/sad_silex.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":868,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/construction-on-mildura-solar-system-begins-but-what-can-taxpayers-expect\/","url_meta":{"origin":601,"position":2},"title":"Construction on Mildura solar system begins but what can taxpayers expect?","author":"Staff Writer","date":"January 14, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0photo credit: mcmees24 The announcement last month from R&D company Silex Systems that construction on Australia\u2019s largest solar power station at Mildura, VIC, has begun gladdens the heart. And the hip pocket nerve. After all Victorian and federal taxpayers are helping to fund this venture to the tune of around\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Solar Installation&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Solar Installation","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-installation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2721,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/does-the-opening-of-mildura-cpv-solar-farm-offer-a-glimpse-of-the-future\/","url_meta":{"origin":601,"position":3},"title":"Does Mildura CPV solar farm offer a glimpse of the future?","author":"Staff Writer","date":"July 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Always great to bring our readers news of an Aussie breakthrough. However this week\u2019s opening of Silex Systems\u2019 massive CPV solar farm in Mildura, Victoria may prove to be more than just a cheery news item. Indeed it may offer a look at solar power\u2019s future in the country.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Big Solar&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Big Solar","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/utility-scale-solar\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"cpv dishes","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/solar-systems-cpv.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/solar-systems-cpv.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/solar-systems-cpv.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10024,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/tindo-solar-cool-or-cosy\/","url_meta":{"origin":601,"position":4},"title":"Tindo Solar, Australia&#8217;s Only Solar Panel Manufacturer, Bought By SA&#8217;s Cool or Cosy","author":"Ronald Brakels","date":"March 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Tindo Solar, Australia's only manufacturer of Solar panels has been bought by South Australia's insulation, solar installation, and energy efficiency company Cool or Cosy. The deal was announced on... 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