Sunshine State lags on solar uptake
Queensland – the Sunshine State – has just half the number of homes using solar energy systems compared to most of Australia’s southern states, Federal Government statistics reveal.
And on a per-capita basis, Queensland has a worse solar energy take-up rate – one unit per 2112 people – than any state other than Western Australia (one unit per 3804 people).
Even Tasmania, with one unit per 1548 people, has a better take-up rate than the Sunshine State.
There have been just 1956 solar energy systems installed in Queensland by June 2008 since the $8000 national solar energy rebate scheme started in 2000.
These solar energy systems are separate to solar hot water systems.
New South Wales (3962), Victoria (3252) and South Australia (3512) have almost twice as many solar energy systems installed as Queensland.
In Queensland, solar energy systems connected to the electricity grid (1005) represents just one-third of the number of systems connected than South Australia (3271) and half of the systems connected in New South Wales (1873) and Victoria (2076).
Only 350 homes have taken up the Queensland Government’s separate solar rebate scheme which started in July and pays households 44 cents per kilowatt hour for excess energy fed into the electricity grid.
But critics say this rebate offers little direct incentive to offset the $13,000-plus cost of a domestic solar energy unit.
Queensland’s Greens MP Ronan Lee said it was now time for the Queensland Government to re-think its solar bonus scheme and pay customers who take up the system for all power generated, not just the amount that is “left over” after powering their home and fed back into the electricity grid.
The Queensland Government opted for a “net” feed-in tariff payment to customers – ie customers receive 44 cents per kilowatt hour of energy only for the excess energy fed back to the grid, rather than a “gross” payment.
Just over 350 Queenslanders have taken up Queensland’s solar rebate scheme.
But Mr Lee said the government had been shown modelling that a “net” tariff system was less efficient than a “gross” tariff system.
“The government knows that this is the case. They have had access to modelling that shows this is the case,” Mr Lee said.
“Every other developed nation in the world that has looked at solar feed-in tariff has come to the conclusion that the only viable way of build a solar renewable energy sector is with a ‘gross’ feed-in tariff.”
He argues he did raise this issue with Labor’s Caucus, but could not convince other MPs to back him.
Political pressure before the federal election forced the Federal Government to keep the rebate at $8000, and pushed the maximum available to schools to $12,000, but the solar industry warned at that stage they wanted a “gross” feed-in tariff system.
National solar energy firm The Solar Shop said it was essential for Australia to move to a “gross” feed-in tariff system for domestic solar energy systems to become viable.
Queensland Solar Shop spokesman Adrian Ferraratto compared the “net” feed-in situation in Queensland and Australia, with that of Germany where the higher tariff was paid for all electricity.
“In Germany, this is a country with half the sunlight of Australia, yet they installed a thousand times more solar systems last year,” he said.
“The reason why they did this was because they have a ‘gross’ feed-in tariff which pays for every last bit of solar electricity that is produced, not a ‘net’ feed-in tariff.
“What I would like to see is a gross feed-in tariff , rather than a rebate which highly distorts any dollar discount there.”