Rooftop Solar Power And Australia's Carbon Price

The boost that large scale solar will receive as a result of Australia's carbon pricing scheme will be welcome, but additional targeted support for small scale and medium solar energy seems to have been overlooked.
 
Small and medium scale solar power systems are the driving force behind Australia's distributed electricity generation revolution says the CEO of Energy Matters, Jeremy Rich; who believes while continually increasing electricity costs and existing solar rebates and incentives will see more households making the switch, further uptake needs to be encouraged.

"We welcome the support for large scale solar announced on Sunday, but echoing a statement I made recently, the government needs to further its targeted support for small and medium scale solar; which could come out of the funding for large-scale - no new money needs to be allocated."

"This will ensure Australia can gain the most carbon emission reduction benefit in the years ahead and accelerate the nation to the point where solar goes beyond grid parity and becomes cheaper than filthy fossil fuels."

Mr. Rich says better utilisation of rooftops can make a substantial contribution in slashing Australia's greenhouse gas emissions, create as many, if not more jobs than large scale solar and the technology addresses some controversial environmental issues, such as the amount of land required for major solar farms.

Mr Rich has previously outlined other advantages of small and medium scale solar over large scale; pointing out the company was already delivering medium scale projects at a similar price as major solar farm installation costs. He says rooftop solar power can reduce the level of infrastructure investment required by electricity networks and slash line loss associated with electricity being transmitted over long distances.

Home and commercial solar power systems are the Internet of distributed electricity generation says Max Sylvester, co-founder of Energy Matters. Decentralised solar electricity generation provides some national security benefits as well as empowering consumers in relation to their energy use. Mr. Sylvester says his company has noticed solar households also tend to become more energy efficient as a result of their hands-on role in electricity generation.

According to a statement from Beyond Zero Emissions, a group focused on developing  blueprints for the implementation of climate change solutions, "The Gillard government has ignored the most successful policy in the world for rolling out renewables deployed and reducing carbon emissions: the German renewable energy Feed-in Tariff."

Internal analysis by Beyond Zero Emissions shows that the proper implementation of a feed-in tariff to put solar panels onto every rooftop in Australia would add a very small amount to the cost of electricity over 20 years.

"By 2015 with appropriate support leading up to that date we could have solar panels installed generating cheaper electricity than buying fossil fuel electricity at the household or business meter," says the group.

Australia currently has a fractured feed in tariff system, with states offering their own programs. These programs have a habit of changing, creating confusion for consumers and instability for the solar industry. A national, uniform feed in tariff would provide surety for investors and businesses operating in the sector and also encourage more potential solar households to turn their rooftops into clean power generators

Growing a healthy Australian renewables industry

Growing a healthy Australian renewables industry

The preview in today's Fairfax press of the ARENA funding body for renewables is a major win for climate action, because it creates an institution that will support the full potential of solar and wind.
For many years the solar and wind industries have allowed themselves to be given the run around by successive governments. Ministers would 'freeze out' renewables companies that advocated publicly, yet give the coal industry everything it wanted.
Guy Pearce, a former Liberal advisor, blew the whistle on this political corruption, whereby the fossil fuel industry had improper influence over both major parties and the public service.
This brutal energy politics will be in raw view today in Canberra, where the Government is holding an important round table with the solar industry. The round table is part of the Greens' plan to build the power of the renewables industry. It was negotiated as part of the flood levy deal. It will see 200 solar company representatives tell the Government what they need in order to grow a healthy Australian solar industry.
ARENA will have an independent structure and this should give it the ability to work constructively with the solar and wind and other renewable sectors.
The Greens have been able to bring about this coup partly because of their rising political power but also because technological progress is bringing the price of renewables down to the price of coal, around the world and in Australia.
Commentators in the media will want to focus purely on the politics of the ARENA deal, but soon enough it will become clear that there is an underlying technological inevitability at work. It is the failure of Minister Ferguson to accept that inevitability that led to his renewables programs being taken off him by Senator Christine Milne and the Greens.
The US department of energy - hardly a bunch of Greenpeace radicals! - is so confident that solar can be as cheap as coal, without subsidies, that it is funding the development of technologies that can achieve this by 2020.
Minister Ferguson still has the grim view of renewables that he has had for 20 years, telling an industry magazine this year, "I am very firmly of the view that a price on carbon is going to create a huge growth opportunity for gas. It is really the only form of alternative clean energy in Australia at the moment..."
President Obama won over the renewables industry when he chose Dr Stephen Chu, a Nobel Prize winner in Physics, to be his energy secretary. Chu is channelling billions of dollars through the National Renewable Energy Laboratories (NREL), to get solar power cheap within nine years, for all of the US, not just the sunny states of the south west.
According to Chu's NREL, solar PV and solar thermal baseload can be around $100/MWh. This is about the price of coal generation and when solar is that cheap, it will not need any subsidies to beat coal in the energy market.
Unfortunately, Martin Ferguson is so prejudiced against the Greens that he cannot accept they are right about solar. In fact, he is so blinded by ideology that he fails to even hear the solar industry. The best example of this blindness is in the choice of cost projection data used by Ferguson to design solar programs.
While Chu's NREL is predicting solar can get to the magic cost crossover point of about $100/MWh by 2020, Minister Ferguson chooses to instead use data put out by a US electricity industry think tank. This think tank, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) is mostly funded by coal and nuclear firms.
The research director says that solar will not be a cost-effective alternative until after 2050!
Today the solar industry is meeting with the Government and that is a good thing. In fact, the reason the meeting is being held is that it was a condition the Greens demanded in return for passing PM Julia Gillard's flood levy package.
Solar PV and solar thermal companies feel betrayed by Ferguson for his lack of faith in their technologies. The background paper which frames the round table today uses the EPRI figures for solar cost performance. These predict that solar will cost something like $200-$600/MWh in 2020.
This negativity towards renewable energy pollutes the whole of energy policy in Australia. Take the Solar Flagships announced last month. The Moree Solar Farm and Kogan Creek Solar Thermal Project are fantastic initiatives, which should build solar plants as big as power stations. I have great confidence in the people who won the bids, but it is a risky adventure.
Our solar industry has built 1MWh plants and is now being told to build 250MWh plants. Why such a big jump? Isn't that an invitation to fail?
Industry and academic experts have told the Government repeatedly that they prefer a sensible pathway of growth, from a few small-medium plants of 1-10MWh in PV and 20-50MWh, across a range of technologies. Then a few in the large-medium scale of 30-50MWh PV and some 100MWh+ solar thermal. Then the industry will have the skills and confidence to build the large-scale plants of 250MWh+, like the advanced industries in other countries.
The electoral benefit of this approach is that the projects would be sited around the country, with many electorates benefiting from the emergence of the solar sector. This will build the momentum of the renewable energy revolution and protect it from the Greenhouse Mafia.

Sydney seeks green expertise

Published on Tue, 05/07/2011, 09:40:55

An independent expert panel will guide environmental programs in sustainability for the City of Sydney.
독립적인 전문가 집단은 시드니를 위한 지속가능한 환경 프로그램을 안내할 것이다.

Energy efficiency expert Allan Jones said Sydney is calling for tenders from expert consultancies and legal firms in areas of sustainability to join the panel.
에너지 효율 전문가 Allan Jones는  말했다 " 시드니는 그 집단에 가입하기 위해 전문적인 자문회사와 법률 회사로 부터 감시인을 요청하고 있습니다"

“We are also seeking expert legal and regulatory advice on public and public/private joint venture corporations for energy, water and waste,” Mr Jones said.
According to Mr Jones, much of what the City of Sydney is doing has never been attempted on such a scale in Australia before, so these projects need to be implemented "in the face of climate change".
Mr Jones는 말했다. "우리는 에너지, 물, 그리고 쓰레기를 위한 공적, 공적/사적 공동 투자 회사에 대한 법률적이고 규제력을 지닌 충고를 찾고 있습니다."
Mr Jones에 따르면 시드니시가 하고 시행하고 있는 많은 것들이 이전까지 호주에서 시행된적이 없는 규모입니다. 그래서 기후변화에 맞써 이러한 프로젝트들이 시행될 필요가 있습니다. 
Mr Jones said Sydney is becoming one of the world’s leading green cities.
Mr Jones는 시드니가 세계의 선두하는 그린 도시중의 하나가 되고 있다고 말했다.

He will not be on the panel as he is an employee of the City of Sydney.
그는 그는 시드니를 위해 일하고 있기 때문에 그 집단에 들어 갈수 없다.
The council will pay for the panel appointees, but they are currently unable to provide a figure.
의회가 그 집단의 임명자들을 위해 돈을 지불할 것이다. 하지만 그 금액을 현재 알려 지지 않고있다.

Sydney’s projects in development are a trigeneration energy network for low carbon electricity, a city-wide recycled water network, an automated waste collection network, renewable gasses from agriculture and farming waste, and installation of solar panels.
발전분야 에서의 시드니 프로젝트에는 전탄소 전기를 위한 trigeneration 에너지 네트워크, 도시 대순환 물 네트워크, 자동적인 쓰레기 수거 네트워크, 농업과 농장에서 발생하는 재생 가스, 태양전지의 설치가 있다.

The panel’s appointment in assisting Sydney’s energy, water and waste staff will last for three years
시드니의 에너지, 물, 그리고 쓰레기 문제를 도와주는 그 집단의 임무는 3년동안 지속될 것이다.

Getting green energy... from windows

Ordinary household surfaces such as windows may soon be used to generate electricity. Scientists in Florida have developed a clear coating that can be sprayed onto glass to create solar panels -- and say it is 10 times more effective at harnessing energy than today's commercial solar technology.

Photovoltaic Product

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Learning About the Efficiency of Photovoltaic Cells

June 1th, 2011

 A large number of manufacturers of photovoltaic cells (solar panels) will claim that the efficiency of the panel arrays will vary depending on the size and types of materials are used to produce them. One of the truths about this statement is the fact that higher quality materials will be more efficient, especially when they are made correctly. One of the biggest problems with photovoltaic cells efficiency is the fact that they need to be used in large numbers to really create a large enough current to be used directly to power devices. One of the simple ways around this is by taking advantage of batteries that can be charged with photovoltaic cells.

Since solar paneling produces DC electricity (direct current) readily, it is perfect for charging batteries by putting in the energy collected through the process to charge the batteries. Otherwise having a large solar paneling array on the place in which they are applied such as large vehicles like recreational vehicles and making use of a grid tie inverter to make the DC current convert into AC (alternating current) to be used by several different applications. Make sure that you take advantage of the possible options for photovoltaic cells because they offer a large amount of benefits for several different things, especially for saving on power consumption in vehicles and reducing the need to have fueled generators which are loud and cause several harmful emissions for power.

 Depending on the manufacturer, the efficiency of photovoltaic cells will be very different. Several companies will produce high quality solar paneling for use with high current production for several different uses. A large number of these companies will produce efficient solar cells which can be used in different applications to help offset electricity usage from several different sources. You can be sure to look into the available options now and understand the technology behind the solar paneling and understand what is going on in research to help improve the technology. Now you are able to get some of the same technology that is used in many modern satellites to receive power while they are in orbit around the earth.

 Several different retailers will be able to offer you different options for any application that you may need. One of the most popular choices is to supplement the energy resources for those who have large vehicles that need to offset their carbon footprint. These vehicles are the most feasible types to use for various applications because they have the most real estate to take advantage of on the roof of the vehicle for photovoltaic cells to be placed. This means that they can be utilized to get more power output than smaller vehicles and the larger volume of power is very simple to use for a larger range of devices that are power hungry.

 It is important to have professionals install any and all photovoltaic cells to ensure that they meet the requirements and can perform with the best efficiency as possible. Recent discoveries have made it possible to get a large amount of power output from solar paneling than ever before and it is possible for these technologies to improve in the near future. Whatever the case, they are a very good investment for those who are concerned with their power consumption and their impact on the earth. Having professionals install photovoltaic cells allows you to prevent damages to the cells themselves and proper installation can make sure that the power is being used to its full potential without shorting out or being installed incorrectly.