Gold rush for solar pay-out - Companies bid to be part of generous scheme

Sunday Canberra Times
Sunday 8/2/2009 Page: 3

ELECTRICITY generators are lining up wanting to take advantage of the new ACT solar feed-in rate, the ACT Greens say. Greens MLA Shane Rattenbury said he had been approached by four companies wanting to become involved with solar generation in the territory as a new era of solar generation is set to start for ACT consumers on March 1. He would not name the companies but they are understood to include New Zealand Government-owned Meridian Energy, which specialises in hydro and wind turbine generation.

The ACT solar feed-in rate will be the most generous in Australia but is intended to be strictly limited to households and small commercial systems when the scheme starts on March 1. Under the scheme, householders that install solar panels will be able to sell surplus electricity back into the ACT grid at a price of up to 3.88 times the current rate. The precise rate is to be set later this month. ACT householders are expected to be able to lock in a feed-in tariff of about 50-60c a kW hour (with a likely maximum of 30kW hours per day) for 20 years.

Amended legislation for the solar feed-in tariff will pass the Assembly this week with the support of the Greens and is expected to include a cap so that only householders and small commercial systems will be eligible. The solar feed-in tariff will be paid by electricity retailers who will be reimbursed by ActewAGL; that, in turn, will spread the cost across all ACT electricity users. The system is designed to encourage householders to install solar systems by providing an opportunity to recoup installation costs in as little as 5-10 years.

The ACT Government is reluctant to make the system available to commercial users on similar terms because of its generosity. Mr Rattenbury said while the feed-in tariff would need to be adjusted for commercial users the establishment of a large-scale plant would establish the ACT as Australia's centre for solar research and would have tremendous spin-off benefits for the ACT.

"There should be a greater emphasis on industry support in this sector because it is the technology of the future and will have a large effect on greenhouse gas. In the ACT, 72% of [greenhouse] gases are generated by stationary sources such as buildings and this electricity can be replaced by renewable energy." He said the ACT Greens were working on developing a model that would make a large-scale project possible and he said a commitment to a large-scale project was part of the Government's agreement with the Greens.

As an interim measure the ACT could permit commercial projects up to 1 MW to take advantage of the feed-in tariff. A 1MW plant would provide electricity for up to 200 households at a cost of about $3 per ACT ratepayer. It could also be used as a pilot program for establishing the long-term benefits and costs of larger scale renewable technology.