Meeting in late November, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) addressed the issue of a feed-in tariff (FIT) scheme for renewable energy.

COAG agreed to a set of national principles to apply to new FIT schemes and to inform the reviews of existing schemes, with the aim that these principles will promote national consistency of schemes across Australia.

COAG principles recommend that micro renewable generation should receive “fair and reasonable value for exported energy” and that any premium rate should be “jurisdictionally determined, transitional and considered for public funding”.

The COAG outcome follows the Senate Committee’s inquiry which noted strong industry, consumer and government support for FIT schemes and recommended that the Federal Government work as quickly as possible towards agreement on a national FIT framework.

The Senate Committee report favoured a gross metering scheme but stopped short of recommending one.

Industry calls for certainty

Speaking with EcoGeneration recently, Clean Energy Council CEO Matthew Warren said the solar rebate process needs to be transformed in some way and there is a logical case for a gross FIT.

“Distributed generation of energy delivers real benefits through avoided transmission losses and avoided network investment, which applies to all the electricity generated, not just that exported. A gross FIT fully reflects these benefits as has been recognised by its almost universal take up world wide.

“What distributed generators like owners of solar PV need is long term policy certainty reflecting the full value of their investment, whether it’s on a house or factory rooftop. We know that rebates are short term political fixes. We still have a lot of work to do to deliver that certainty.”

A report released by the Clean Energy Council in late November found that Australia is in a strong position to develop a thriving national solar industry over the next 20 years.

The report, undertaken by Access Economics, shows that a gross FIT will be the trigger for strong investment – and growth – in the solar sector.

“Australia’s share of the global solar market has fallen from seven per cent in 1992 to one per cent in 2007 – despite having the highest average solar radiation of any country in the world, Australia significantly lags behind other countries in its investment in the solar industry,” said Mr Warren.

The report shows a gross national FIT would drive investment in solar PV systems by the commercial and residential sectors, assuming 3,000 MW of capacity is deployed, of up to $17.9 billion over the next 20 years.

Conergy points to success OS

Conergy has urged the Australian Government to look overseas at the success of large-scale solar projects, pointing to the Conergy Group’s recently sold 21.2 megawatt (MW) El Calaveron plant in Spain and its 24 MW SinAn project in South Korea.

Conergy Managing Director Rodger Meads said “Large scale photovoltaic power plants like El Calaveron and SinAn would provide great long term infrastructure opportunities right here in Australia and they are a compelling example of why the private sector should consider investing in renewable energy.

“With the Australian Government’s encouragement, and the right legislative and regulatory environment, this kind of large-scale project is just around the corner for Australians.”

Incentives and support for a technology ready today: Ausra

Ausra Chief Scientific Officer, Executive Vice President, and Founder, David Mills spoke at the Clean Energy Council Conference where he argued that government support to provide certainty for the industry is needed.

Known worldwide for pioneering Compact Linear Fresnel Reflector (CLFR) solar thermal technology in the early 1990s, Dr Mills said the technology has been developed, ready to deliver power today.

“Unlike CCS and advanced nuclear, solar thermal is a now technology not a 2020 or 2030 technology,” he said.

What the industry needs is support that is more financial than environmental, he told EcoGeneration.

“It’s about getting any new generation online,” he said. “You have to have some [financial] measure there. But then on top of that you may wish to have an environmental stimulus like MRET (the mandatory renewable energy target). You probably need both but the government has to understand the difference between those two needs.”

Ausra Australia CEO Bob Matthew added that while the company supports the introduction of an emissions trading scheme, a ‘soft start’ will hurt new technologies.

“We’re ready to put these projects on the ground now and we need some further incentives today,” he said.

With the technology there, Dr Mills said that if Australia were to act quickly and decisively to develop and support solar thermal, it would be the local expert in the region; it would have the most developed industries and it would be able to secure projects in other countries.

“All kinds of things can happen if you’re first,” he said.

BP manufacturing moves offshore

Meanwhile, BP Solar recently announced that it will cease the production of photovoltaic (PV) power cells and panels at its manufacturing plant in Sydney’s Olympic Park at the end of March 2009.

Speaking at the Clean Energy Conference and Exhibition, Performance Unit Leader Mark Twidell said that BP Solar’s commitment to deploying solar PV in Australia has not changed and the company’s support to lobby for carbon pricing and solar FITs and commitments to all projects and customers remain absolutely resolute.

“Our decision on manufacturing shouldn’t be allowed to change anyone’s perception of the future for solar PV in Australia. Manufacturing potential is not the same as market potential and we should all in the industry be strong and united,” he said.

He said that different state or federal government policies could not have influenced the company’s decision and that while policy can help grow market demand, efficient manufacturing is required.

BP Solar Global CEO Reyad Fezzani said “The challenge for solar power is to reduce its costs to the level at which it competes on an equal footing with conventional electricity delivered through the power grid. To do this we need to reduce scale and cost.

‘We’ve looked at all options in our Sydney manufacturing site and the physical location, lack of expansion potential and lease agreements just don’t make it competitive: the most modern Solar PV manufacturing plants are up to twenty times larger than our Sydney site and we are competing in the global market.”

The decision comes because the company is looking to focus its operations at larger scale plants in lowest cost manufacturing countries, in order to drive down the cost of solar power for consumers.

The Clean Energy Council said it was disappointed by the decision and called on the Government to act.

Mr Warren said “Hopefully this will mean more affordable solar energy for Australian households and businesses, making it easier for Australia’s fastgrowing solar industry to deploy solar energy panels on rooftops across the sunniest continent on earth.

This decision reminds us that developing manufacturing industries in Australia is challenging in a global market, and the renewable energy sector is no different.”