Opinion

Solar rort

It's thoroughly feel-good, greeted by all as wonderful or not wonderful enough. That is the State Government's announcement this week that we will pay 60 cents a kilowatt hour for household solar systems' excess power. Wonderful, and a fellow I know estimates that this will be worth $650 a year to him.

Those in the not-wonderful-enough camp argue that we should pay 60 cents a kilowatt hour for all the power produced by domestic solar systems, not just that left over after the householder has had a free go from the system we probably paid for. The first is a net feed-in tariff, the second a gross feed-in tariff.

When I say "we", by the way, I mean you and I. The government decrees that the electricity distributors, and EnergyAustralia is just one, will pay the 60 cents a kilowatt hour and that we, their customers, will reimburse the distributors for those payments.

Let me put this 60 cents a kilowatt in perspective. EnergyAustralia and other distributors in NSW are paying a wholesale price of 6.25 cents per kilowatt hour for power they resell, so they'll be paying almost 10 times that for excess solar power to resell. The standard retail price we pay is 17 cents a kilowatt hour, about a quarter of what we'll pay for a household solar system's excess.

Bear these imposts in mind when I remind you that it is very likely we paid most, or at least a big part, of the cost of installing the household's solar system.

It is perverse that the people who are going to benefit most from this largesse are those who use very little electricity anyway. Big families, and mine is one of them, find it prohibitively expensive to install a solar system that will provide an excess and so there's no 60-cents-a-kilowatt-hour incentive for the heaviest users of electricity to reduce that use. And there was no government solar subsidy for me and many others, which doesn't help either.

I reckon it's another feel-good rort that will benefit only those who've had their fingers deep in the public purse already. Or do you think it fair and reasonable that I pay for your solar system, store your electricity for free so you can have it back at night, then pay you an extortionate price for your free left-over power?

Posted By: Jeff Corbett on 2/07/2009 5:30:37 PM | Comments (24)

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This is an outrageous farce perpetrated by (a) the moronic drones that cling to these idiotic schemes thinking they will save the world, and (b) the dead wood, parasite, 'good for nothing better' politicians that support them. What a bloody insult. This should be on the front page of every paper in the land.

Posted by Abundance, 3/07/2009 10:14:06 AM

jeff your electricity bill is due soon - just make sure you pay up on time and quit the complaining about others getting cheaper electricity (at your expense). BS

Posted by bright spark, 3/07/2009 10:19:35 AM

The incentives for solar are a complete mess. However done right a gross feed in tariff would do away for the need for any other incentives or rebates. Just look at how it was done in Germany. In Australia we have both state & federal gov'ts having a go and doing it in half measures. Bear in mind a feed in tariff is meant to decrease over time and dissappear after 15 to 20 years when solar achieves price parity with coal. Not that the cost of the infrastructure or health costs of coal is ever accounted for in retail price.

Posted by solarboy, 3/07/2009 10:27:33 AM

Hard to tell whether you mean what you say, or just trying to stir the pot a little Jeff. Is climate change the greatest threat this planet and our species faces? Yes? Do we need to wean ourselves of non-renewable, dirty CO2 intensive fossil fuels? Yes? Then name a scheme that will not raise prices at least somewhat by taking into account the significant destructive results of burning coal. Prices must rise. But lets stop whinging, we have some of the cheapest electricity in the developed world, hence Aluminium is being produced here. Jeff, if you want something to whinge about, perhaps Tomago Aluminium paying in the order of 1c/kWh compared to your 17c/kWh should be in your sights. Not to mention the fact that they are the single biggest user of NSW electricity. Or is this too politically unpalatable for you and your paper? Less talk, more money where your mouth is. Put solar on your roof, campaign for a gross feed-in-tariff and you can benefit too from bring about the renewable energy revolutions we all want and need. Or we could pay $200 million out of NSW Gov't coffers (i.e. our money ... that's yours and mine) to expand the equal biggest dirty coal fired power station in NSW @ Eraring. Now that's a climate policy.

Posted by Reality check, 3/07/2009 11:06:55 AM

Standard grid-connect solar is a waste of time and money - when the grid fails (as it will do with increasing frequency in the coming years - you just watch) your solar shuts down too - I wonder how many solar champions realise that? Take the cost of sufficient panels + inverter to power your house, then double it to get enough deep cycle batteries to last through a blackout. That's how I'll go solar, but not until the prices come down a lot. Thanks to all the pioneers out there who are growing the market, and hence putting downward pressure on the price of the hardware.

Posted by Scott Hillard, 3/07/2009 11:19:37 AM

Let's not upgrade our coal-fired power stations and put the money towards renewable energy instead. Just don't whinge during the next twenty years of blackouts while it's happening.

Posted by moron, 3/07/2009 12:26:31 PM

If you are going to put that arguement forward Jeff. It has to be put to all industries where price inequities are present. And there are far too many to list here.

Posted by leahkf, 3/07/2009 12:47:15 PM

A few corrections Jeff. Electricity costs more during the day because that's when demand is highest. At night electricity is cheap- it's called off peak. Solar is good for all because it produces power for most of the summer peak when everyone turns on their air conidtioning. That means we need fewer network upgrades and fewer gas peak power plants. Result: cheaper electricity. Wholesale electricity prices change every few minutes and vary from negative to $10 per kilowatt hour. Average is about 4 cents a kilowatt hour. Working for a power company, I've checked my sources. I suggest you check yours too, in future.

Posted by airskywind, 3/07/2009 1:41:39 PM

Most solar power is generated in the time of the shoulder tariff, 7am to 2pm, and most power is used at the time of the peak tariff, 2pm to 8pm.

Posted by Jeff Corbett on 3/07/2009 2:36:40 PM

Hey Jeff, how about an article outlining how we should go nuclear? Cleaner, safer, lower carbon & radiation emissions than coal, and we're sitting on 40% of the world's uranium reserves....

Posted by Scott Hillard, 3/07/2009 2:27:05 PM

Maybe the domestic reactors would fit in the space formerly occupied by the backyard incinerator.

Posted by Jeff Corbett on 3/07/2009 2:38:35 PM

Toshiba make a reactor that can easily power a high-rise apartment block, and measures only 6x2x2 meters - a tad larger than the incinerator but comparable to your chook pen I'd guess. Bet your chooks can't generate 200 kilowatts @ 5c per kilowatt hour - or last 40 years. You could throw a few leads over the fence and flog your considerable excess off to the neighbours.

Posted by Scott Hillard, 3/07/2009 2:46:12 PM

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