NATIONAL: The clean energy industry says changes to the renewable energy target announced today will deliver stalled multi-million dollar commercial projects as well as supporting household scale technologies such as solar panels and solar hot water systems.

“The Rudd Government has got it right with this announcement,” said Clean Energy Council chief executive Matthew Warren.

“The clean energy industry has been discussing structural design issues with the current Renewable Energy Target since late last year. The Rudd Government has listened carefully to industry advice and today has acted decisively and effectively.

“Our main concern was to improve the design of the RET to ensure that it delivered both industrial scale generation projects as well as the continued development and deployment of household technologies like solar panels and hot water. Today’s announcement addresses this problem.

“We will continue to work with the government to ensure the final legislation is effective and efficient.

“These changes clear the path for the clean energy industry to play its crucial role in driving down the cost of clean energy whilst cutting Australia’s greenhouse emissions. 

“This is good news for jobs and investment in the renewable energy industry,” Mr Warren said.

For more information please visit the Clean Energy Council.

NATIONAL: The Clean Energy Council (CEC) has moved to reassure consumers about the safety of Australian household solar panel systems following a story on ABC’s Lateline program on the 17th February 2010.

Clean Energy Council chief executive Matthew Warren said while there had been around 100,000 solar panels installed in Australian households over the last 30 years, the industry has received no reports of any causing house fires.

“We take safety seriously.  The safety record of the solar industry is good. To put this in perspective there are more than 10,000 house fires every year, most of which are caused by faulty wiring or appliances – not solar panels,” Mr Warren said.

“All solar panels receiving government support must be installed by an accredited installer.  The panels must comply with the Australian standard.  All houses connecting solar panels back to the grid must also be installed by a licensed electrician.

The accreditation program includes audits of installed systems to ensure compliance with these rigorous standards and consumer confidence is maintained.

“All households looking to install solar panels should be using a CEC-accredited installer who is required to ensure that their solar panel system is safe and complies with the Australian standard,” Mr Warren said.

“The Clean Energy Council will continue to work with Federal and State Governments to ensure the highest standards are maintained and consumers can continue to generate their own clean electricity with confidence,” he said.

“We welcome any additional measures to improve the safety, performance and reliability of these technologies as they evolve to becoming part of the mainstream energy supply in Australia.”

“Both major parties should be proud of the transformative effect their policies have had in developing the Australian solar industry.  They have made solar power more affordable for consumers, created jobs and reduced thousands of Australian household’s reliance on fossil fuel-based electricity,” he said.

For more information please visit the Clean Energy Council.

Embargo 10th November 2009

Intervention by Premier Nathan Rees in the NSW Solar Bonus Scheme will deliver the most generous payments to families in the country.

“Our gross payment system will deliver higher paybacks to families and makes NSW national leaders in the clean energy revolution,” said Mr
Rees.

“A ‘gross scheme’ is based on the total solar energy produced in your home rather than payments based only on what you don’t use.

“These changes will see an average family paid around $1496 a year.

“That’s a 62 percent increase on the previous scheme and means households can pay off their investment in solar panels in around eight years.

“Under our scheme, homeowners will know up-front how much they will be paid for all the energy their solar panels produce.”

Households with solar panels will be paid 60 cents per kilowatt hour and an average household system would generate annually around 2500 kWh. The NSW scheme will have a cap on the size of home solar systems of 10 kW. A system this size would generate around 16 700 kWh and pay almost $10 000 a year.

“Creating certainty in the feed-in-tariff scheme is one way we can encourage families to invest in solar technology and support the clean energy industry,” said Mr Rees.

A review of the scheme was one of the first tasks for the newly created Ministerial portfolio of Climate Change, Environment and Energy. Minister John Robertson will introduce legislation for the scheme into parliament this week.

We are introducing legislation to allow these changes to come into effect next year. Transitional arrangements will also be made for families already receiving a feed-in-tariff,” said Mr Robertson.

The scheme is proposed to run for seven years.

The Herald Sun writes about the likely increase in electricity and water biils "Electricity companies were given clearance on Friday to charge Victorian households more to pay for the installation of new smart meters.

Charity and consumer groups warned the soaring bills would hurt pensioners, families, and the unemployed, with average Victorian households expected to be paying close to $1000 a year for electricity.

Households already face the prospect of a sharp rise in interest rates over the next 12 months and higher water bills.

The rollout of smart meters across Victoria is expected to take up to five years. But once they are installed, they will be able to read a household's use every 30 minutes.

The smart meters will send information back to the provider and allow households to monitor their own power use in peak times. "

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Date : 5 November 2009

A COAG review into the Federal Government’s Renewable Energy Target will consider factors that may be impacting upon the Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) market in the short and long term.  

“The review will explicitly examine the current state of the RET spot market and whether the spot market has any implications for the deployment of large-scale projects such as wind farms,” Senator Wong said.

Senator Wong said uncertainty regarding the establishment of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme could be harming market sentiment and impacting on the REC spot price.

The expanded Renewable Energy Target is designed to ensure 20 per cent of Australia's electricity comes from renewable sources by 2020.

The price of RECs is set by the market, depending on the supply of renewable energy and demand created through the Renewable Energy Target’s annual targets.

The significantly expanded targets under the RET begin on 1 January 2010, which will boost demand for RECs and growth in the renewable energy sector.

The target will increase to 12,500 gigawatt hours in 2010, up from 8,100 gigawatt hours this year, strengthening the demand for RECs.

The recent decline in the spot market REC price has prompted concern from some in the renewable energy industry.  Whilst the focus has been on the spot market, most renewable energy projects enter into long term contracts for the sale of RECs and are therefore less subject to short term fluctuations in the spot market. 

The review will look at both short-term developments in the REC market and the factors that will determine longer-term pricing.

The review is to report to COAG by the end of the year.