Well go solo on solar: Tebbutt

Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday 8/11/2008 Page: 5

SOLAR panels will soon be earning their keep. The State Government is moving to introduce feed-in tariffs - where people generating renewable electricity will get paid extra for it - if the Federal Government does not introduce a national scheme. The Environment Minister, Carmel Tebbutt, told the Herald NSW "can't wait forever" for a national tariff and would follow other states by kick-starting a local solar industry.

"If we don't see any movement on a national approach within the next couple of months, we will put something in place in NSW because we can't wait forever," Ms Tebbutt said. "We want to see some pretty clear signals of a national approach.

We haven't seen those yet." It has yet to be decided if a NSW tariff would pay owners of rooftop solar panels for all the power they generate, or just for the electricity fed back into the grid. Ms Tebbutt said the State Government would prefer a national scheme, rather than different systems introduced by each state or territory.

"I will need to work with the state Energy Minister but we're committed to taking action to put something in place in NSW," Ms Tebbutt said. Even with a tariff, investing in enough rooftop solar panels to power the average home is expensive.

A two-kilowatt system would cost about $12,000, even after the Federal Government rebate of $8000 for families earning less than $100,000. A gross tariff in NSW would mean a system could pay for itself in a decade, with the bonus that households would no longer be vulnerable to rising energy prices. Without a tariff, installing a two-kilowatt system might take 40 years to pay off, according to the Alternative Technology Association.

Victoria, Queensland and South Australia have introduced feed-in tariff legislation this year, with homes and some small businesses that send power back into the grid being paid at above the market rate.

In the ACT, a more generous gross feed-in tariff will pay people who generate solar or wind energy at home for the electricity they put back into the grid and for the energy they use. The rate is expected to be about 65 cents a kilowatt hour, with payment guaranteed for 20 years. The Federal Government promised before last year's election to consider a nationwide tariff to boost the solar photovoltaic industry. The issue has been discussed at premiers' conferences but there has been no announcement yet.

A national tariff is supported by renewable energy groups, including the Clean Energy Council, and the concept of a "carefully calculated" feed-in tariff was supported by Professor Ross Garnaut in the national climate change review he released last month. The NSW Opposition has urged the State Government to develop a scheme, saying it would reduce greenhouse gases by the equivalent of taking 16,000 cars off the road. feed-in tariffs have been adopted successfully around the world, particularly in Europe.