Rudd to examine pensioners’ payments

AAP

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says the government could “fine tune” the system that docks pensioner welfare payments if they sell solar power back into the grid.

Pensioners have this week complained that if they install solar panels and sell any excess power, Centrelink counts cash payments and power bill rebates as income.

Mr Rudd on Friday told the Seven Network he’d examine the issue.

“Let’s look and see if there’s any fine tuning possible here,” the prime minister said.

“(But) the pension system has been around for a long time and it counts all forms of income.”

Mr Rudd said pensioners could earn about $150 a fortnight without it affecting their pension. Couples could earn about $250.

“Most of those panels are designed so that you could perhaps feed back into the grid $50 or $60 a fortnight.

“(So) it should be therefore doable without really affecting people’s pension.”

Source: http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/rudd-to-examine-pensioners-payments-20100430-twz5.html

Suntech will supply solar panels for what will be the biggest solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant in Taiwan. Suntech Power Holdings is the largest producer of crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules in the world.

The company will provide solar panels for the new 4.7MW solar plant in Young’an, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, owned and operated by the Taiwan Power Company, and developed by Fortune Electric. The new plant will almost double the island’s current installed solar capacity of about 5MW, according to Suntech.

Liao Wen Sing, Vice President of Fortune Electric Co., Ltd. stated: “We chose Suntech modules for superior performance and reliability, as seen in utility-scale installations across Asia, Europe, and the Americas. We look forward to working with Suntech on this momentous project – hopefully the first of many large-scale solar plants in Taiwan.”

Suntech will begin delivering the 16,640 advanced polycrystalline modules, each with a peak power output of up to 280 watts, in June 2010. The solar plant is expected to begin production in early 2011. The project is a milestone in Taiwan’s efforts to raise renewable energy production capacity by more than 10GW in the next 20 years, diminish its reliance on imported fossil fuels, and to reduce carbon emissions to year-2000 levels by 2025. Due to the abundant sunlight in Taiwan, it is expected that soon, a great share of the island’s energy will be solar.

Roger Ye, Suntech’s President of Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa (APMEA) stated: “We have great expectations for the entire region. Asia and the Pacific already account for about one-third of the world’s total energy demand, although its per-capita consumption is far less than the world’s average. The region’s booming populations, strong economic growth engines, and abundant sunlight represent an exciting opportunity for solar and for Suntech.

The Asian Development Bank reported in November 2009 that energy demand in Asia and the Pacific will grow by an estimated 2.4 percent annually for the next twenty years, a cumulative 80% increase between 2005 and 2030.

Suntech already delivers its PV products all around the region, including in Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Australia, Korea, Thailand and mainland China, among others thousands of customers in more than 80 countries around the world. This global track record is a key differentiator for the brand in both established and emerging solar markets, according to Suntech executives.

Dr. Zhengrong Shi, Chairman and CEO of Suntech said: “The global nature of our operations and experience provides a unique competitive advantage as we grow in emerging Asian markets and around the world. We are working across borders and regions to power sustainable economic growth everywhere under the sun.”

Source: http://www.instalbiz.com/news/12-full-news-taiwan-chooses-suntech-to-power-its-largest-solar-power-plant_550.html

by Jason Whittaker

Dodgy home solar panel installations are putting lives at risk and Peter Garrett is solely responsible, if you believe the news reports doing the rounds today.

Except there is nothing out of the ordinary about the number of botched installations, not a single house has burnt down, and most of the solar panels were installed under the previous coalition government in a program launched by then-environment minister Malcolm Turnbull.

The ABC’s “investigation” into solar panel installations has fingered the embattled environment minister for putting about 2000 homes at risk of electrical fire by incorrectly installing the panels. Garrett’s fortunes — already under fire over deadly home fires sparked by roof insulation —  “appear to be going from bad to worse” the AM program declared this morning.

But the firm charged with auditing solar panel installation — and used as the key source in last night’s Lateline story — calls the concerns a “beat-up” and points out most were installed under the Howard Government.

A spokesperson for the Clean Energy Council (CEC) told Crikey “people are making it more political than what it is”. Of the thousands of solar panel installations sparked by the rebate scheme, none have caused a home fire.

The Coalition doubled the rebate on solar panels from $4000 to $8000 in the 2007 federal Budget, sparking a frenzied up-take that more than quadrupled the number of installers operating in Australia. The funding blow-out forced Labor to cut the rebate in half last year and apply a means-testing formula.

Geoff Stapleton conducted the latest audits as a sub-contractor for the CEC and wasn’t surprised by results showing about 3% of systems have been mis-installed. As more solar panels are fitted, more will inevitably be installed badly.

He told Crikey the number of installers has grown from 400 to 1700; about 6000 were installed in the first six years of the program, while the government reported 6000 inquiries in one week alone last year.

Stapleton doesn’t know who took the story to Lateline. And he rejects the program’s assertion that the CEC demanded the latest audits last year — these were requested by the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, he said.

The problem systems are being installed on AC power rather than the industry-standard DC voltage. Every industry has its cowboys that will fail to meet installation instructions, Stapleton said. “We take these matters very seriously,” he said.

Australian standards are the toughest in the world and have been taken up globally as industry-standard. “We have standards in Australia that no other country even has,” Stapleton said.

Opposition environment spokesperson Greg Hunt has called for another auditor-general inquiry into solar panel installations (something Garrett says the government will consider). He told AM:

These three programs have all been riddled by mismanagement. Clearly the minister is not across them and there are home owners who that are at risk.

A spokesperson for Hunt is yet to respond to Crikey’s questions over the former government’s own role in the rapid roll-out of solar panel installations.

Source: http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/02/18/garrett-fingered-over-dodgy-solar-panels-but-story-a-beat-up/