All gift ATA members, ReNew and Sanctuary subscribers go into the running to win a one kilowatt grid-interactive solar power system.

Draw closes 20th February 2009.

Australian entries only. VIC Permit No: 08/2131

Click here for more info.

COAG must choose a world class solar power payment or risk further damaging Australia’s position in the global solar market, the Alternative Technology Association (ATA) and Total Environment Centre (TEC) say.

The Council of Australian Governments is scheduled to consider a unified, renewable energy feed-in tariff scheme at this weekend’s COAG meeting, after it was swamped by the economic crisis at the October event.

To make sure your gift arrives on time place your order before 17th December.

For gift memberships and subscriptions the recipient will be sent a letter notifying them of your gift and a current issue of the magazine. A receipt for purchase will be mailed to you.

If you would like to alter how the gift is arranged or for it to be sent after xmas, please call the ATA on (03) 9639 1500 or email ata@ata.org.au

The ATA International Projects Group has continued to evolve in 2008 with more projects in more places. Come to this relaxed and informative night and:

• Hear about the lighting of an entire Timorese village
• Learn how training is improving local skills in renewable energy
• Find out how the wind blows in Vanuatu
• Meet Timorese partners
• View excerpts from a short documentary on 2008 Timor projects
• Enjoy the company of project partners and friends

The IPG is a volunteer group formed to assist low income communities in South East Asia and the Pacific access technologies appropriate to their needs. Since 2003 the group has been involved in around 70 projects, big and small .

Click here for the invitation.

The French Minister for Energy and the Environment announced Monday that the government was launching an aggressive new program to propel the country to the forefront of solar energy development.

The announcement by Minister Jean-Louis Borloo was made at the annual Grenelle meeting of French environmental stakeholders. Minister Borloo outlined 50 actions the Sarkozy government would take to substantially increase the role of renewable energy in France.

Most dramatically, Borloo said that France intends to become one of the world’s leaders in the development of solar photovoltaic technology and will increase the supply of solar-generated electricity 400 times by 2020.

Click here to read more.

The UK’s pending feed-in tariff for renewable energy has been expanded from a cap of 3 megawatts to 5 megawatts. By comparrison, the existing Australian state-based schemes are capped at 30 kilowatts, with the pending Victorian scheme proposed to be capped at 2 kilowatts – more than 1000 times smaller than the UK proposal.

The Department for Energy and Climate Change told New Energy Focus this morning that the move had been taken to give the government more flexibility in its use of the feed-in tariff to support community renewable electricity projects.

Click here to read more.

The Swiss, famed for their democratic traditions, chocolate, and knives with corkscrews, have adopted an aggressive feed-in tariff to promote the rapid development of renewable energy.

The Swiss federal government has launched an aggressive system of feed-in tariffs that pays any renewable energy generator for every kWh of electricity generated. The Swiss system, which is just four months old, has a schedule of tariffs differentiated by technology, size and application, which sets payments per kilowatt-hour (kWh), for solar photovoltaics, wind, hydro, geothermal and biomass.

Click here to read the article.

For the first time in North America, in cooperation with a local municipal electric association, the Gainesville City Commission in Florida took a substantial first step to enact a policy that will create jobs, increase our energy independence and security, provide substantial investment in clean, sustainable energy and reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions.

While new to the U.S., Renewable Energy Payments (REPs), also referred to as feed-in tariffs, have been responsible for 50 percent of the growth of global renewable energy production (70 percent in solar). Now they are on their way to the USA.

Click here to read the article in full.

The Alternative Technology Association (ATA) welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the Australian Energy Market Commission’s (AEMC) Review of Energy Market Frameworks in Light of Climate Change Policies.

ATA is a strong supporter of the introduction of both the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) and the expanded national Renewable Energy Target (RET). Whilst neither policy will provide the ‘silver bullet’ solution to Australia’s climate change challenge, once implemented they will become the most significant policy drivers in this area. Each policy also offers the opportunity to further transform the national electricity and gas markets from their current inefficient state to one that maximises investment efficiency ‘in the long term interest of consumers’.

Click here to see ATA’s submission.

A federal senate inquiry report, supports calls for the adoption of a national gross feed-in tariff scheme that would see electricity retailers paying solar-homes for the clean power they produce, says the Alternative Technology Association (ATA).

ATA is calling for government leaders to bring in a payment for domestic solar or risk falling behind the rest [...]