Families will take 20 years to pay off solar systems under NSW feed-in tariff
NSW announces net feed-in tariff for solar
Wednesday 24 June 2009
The NSW state government’s solar feed-in tariff legislation will see families taking 20 years or more to pay back the cost of their solar system, says Australia’s leading sustainable living organisation, the Alternative Technology Association (ATA).
Damien Moyse, ATA’s Energy Policy Manager, says the NSW government’s estimate of a 12 year pay back time is not backed by feed-in tariff modeling.
“Payback times are more likely to be over 20 years because the net output of a solar system is unreliable and the price of RECs, from the federal government’s not yet delivered Solar Credits Scheme, are prone to rise and fall with the market.”
“From a householders perspective, a scheme that does not guarantee a return within an economically viable time-frame, is not a good investment,” say Mr Moyse.
Mr Moyse says net schemes completely miss the point of what feed-in tariffs can deliver.
“Government’s are claiming the cost of gross feed-in tariffs are too expensive for consumers, yet this is at a time when the electricity networks in NSW are asking for $15 billion to build more poles and wires across the grid, all of which will end up on household electricity bills.”
“You have to ask why the NSW government is spending money on expensive grid upgrades when the cost of a gross feed-in tariff is no where near that figure and roof-top solar actually negates the need to expand the electricity grid.”
Mr Moyse says the NSW government’s solar policy is not strong enough to deliver large-scale uptake of rooftop solar and will fail to bring installation costs down over time.
“A feed-in tariff is the most effective mechanism for driving the uptake of solar power, but under the government’s net scheme NSW will only see a very limited increase in solar power.”
“The NSW government has completely missed the point of what a feed-in tariff can deliver, and their failure to guarantee a set return for investors is another economic blow for the industry,” says Mr Moyse.
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Media enquiries: Bojun Chiswell – T. (03) 9631 5409 M. 0450 352 956 E. bojun@ata.org.au
