Solar expert wants same support as coal

Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday 5/4/2008 Page: 10

ONE of Australia's leading solar engineers has criticised governments for a lack of support for the industry, contrasting it with the strong backing given to clean coal in the race to cut greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation. "If we have a level playing field we will win," said Richard Corkish, the head of renewable energy engineering at the University of New South Wales. In Victoria this week, the federal Minister for Energy, Martin Ferguson, launched the southern hemisphere's largest clean coal experiment, which is backed by big coal and gas companies, six universities and state governments.

An International Energy Agency report has predicted that a commercial clean coal plant is unlikely to be operating before 2020. Just days earlier California was rolling out the largest commercial solar power project in the world, which will serve 162,000 homes south of Los Angeles. The $1 billion project by Southern California Edison will put advanced photovoltaic solar generating cells on 6 million square metres of commercial roof space.

Renewable energy costs more than traditional power. But California has deemed that by 2010, 20 per cent of power must be from renewable sources. Australia's Mandatory Renewable Energy Target is 20 per cent by 2020. This target is driving Southern California Edison to pay a tariff to commercial building owners to install the solar panels.

Dr Corkish said Australian governments needed to examine the idea of paying commercial buildings and home owners to install photovoltaic panels that can feed into power grids - a policy that has led to an explosion of solar power in Germany and Spain. So far South Australia is the only state to agree to the tariffs.

"We're very good at commercialising [solar] technologies but they're tending not to be implemented in Australia because coal is too cheap here," Dr Corkish said. "If we had the sort of support we have seen in Spain and Germany we can do it here. We would have a big market and a big industry."