Solar incentive scheme criticised

Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday 25/11/2008 Page: 12

THE NSW Opposition and green groups have criticised the State Government's solar plans, saying the tariff it has promised to bring in next year will scarcely make a difference to the state's renewable energy performance. The scheme, announced yesterday by the Environment Minister, Carmel Tebbutt, will provide households and small businesses with some payment for generating solar energy, but it is expected to be less than that in some other states.

"The scheme will build the state's green-collar jobs sector by helping solar technology compete with non-renewable electricity," Ms Tebbutt said. A government-appointed task force will examine different types of tariffs and report in January. The debate hinges on whether NSW will adopt a net tariff, in which householders are paid above the market rate for electricity they feed back into the grid, or a gross tariff, in which the subsidy is paid for all power generated from their solar panels.

Ms Tebbutt said a net tariff could attract a payment of up to 60 cents a kilowatt hour, close to four times the cost of coal-fired electricity. The Opposition Leader, Barry O'Farrell, urged the Government to adopt a gross tariff. The NSW Greens called on the Government to adopt gross tariffs, and so did the Property Council of Australia. which would like to see the scheme extended to cover cogeneration and tri-generation of renewable electricity.

Western Australia and the ACT are starting gross tariff schemes, while South Australia, Victoria and Queensland will go ahead with less generous net tariffs. The Federal Government has so far not committed to a national scheme, meaning that the nation will have a patchwork of different subsidies.

A household in the ACT would receive more for the same amount of solar electricity than a household just across the border in NSW, even though both are connected to a common power grid. Ms Tebbutt unveiled the plan at the Australia-Germany Solar and Bio Energy Industry Conference in Sydney.