Age
Tuesday 2/6/2009 Page: 5
THE State Government has warned it will abandon controversial household solar energy laws rather than accept Greens amendments to make it more financially attractive to install rooftop panels. Due to be introduced into the upper house this week, the bill would pay households a premium rate for home-generated solar electricity fed into the power grid.
The Age revealed in January that an expert analysis commissioned by the Government found the bill would do little to encourage people to install solar energy or cut greenhouse gas emissions. Consultants McLennan Magasanik Associates found that only a scheme that paid a premium tariff for all solar electricity, whether used at home or fed into the grid, would significantly boost the industry.
The consultants found this more generous scheme - known as a gross feed-in tariff would be affordable, increasing power bills across Victoria just $8 a year. Mr Batchelor said this was incorrect: an analysis by his office showed the real figure for a 60 cent per kW hour gross tariff was $40 a year - too much to expect households without solar panels to pay.
He said the consultants' had not modelled the exact details of the Government's scheme, and had assumed a low-level of solar energy installation that had already been surpassed. More than 5000 Victorian households have solar panels connected to the grid. "I stand by our figures," Mr Batchelor recently told a parliamentary committee.
He also said: "The fundamental problem is that rooftop (panels) are the most expensive form of electricity generation in Victoria, and they are the most inefficient, and somebody's got to pay for them." Mr Batchelor later warned against the upper house backing Greens' amendments that would force up household costs that were "unacceptable to a fair-minded Government". "If that happens (the amendments are supported) it would mean no feed-in tariff." he said.
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