Australians will not be put off solar
Monday 02 March 2009
Solar-homes are selling-off their clean power to electricity retailers without knowing it, because they don’t understand the government’s solar policies, says the Alternative Technology Association (ATA).
An ATA survey reveals that many respondents did not understand the Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) system at the time of installing their solar panels, says Damien Moyse, Energy Advocate for the ATA.
The survey found that forty-two percent of respondents felt the government had not provided sufficient information about the RECs system and 62% felt that, in general, information on RECs was insufficient.
Australia’s Renewable Energy Target (RET), requires electricity retailers to buy 20 per cent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020.
Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) are the trading currency for clean power and are created when a renewable energy source is installed. RECs are created at a ratio of one REC per megawatt-hour of clean energy generation.
Renewable energy produces, such as solar-homes, can offset the cost of their solar system by selling their RECs to electricity retailers.
Solar-homes who choose not to sell-off their RECs will be forcing electricity retailers to buy elsewhere, resulting in the solar-home contributing to Australia’s clean energy generation over and above the RET.
Under the federal government’s new Solar Credits Scheme, due to replace the Solar Rebate in July, homes installing solar will be given five times the RECs for every megawatt-hour of clean energy generation their system produces.
This will result in four out of the five RECs not representing real clean energy generation.
The survey, submitted to the Department of Climate Change Renewable Energy Target committee, also shows that despite the confusion surrounding RECs, Australians are still willing to install solar panels on their homes.
“Seventy-two per cent of respondents were intending to install a solar system within the next year and the main reason was to reduce their carbon footprint,” says Mr Moyse.
The survey found that 53 per cent of respondents, who had already installed solar, did so because they wanted to reduce their carbon footprint, 43 per cent wanted to increase renewable energy generation in Australia, while only 19 per cent installed solar to reduce their electricity bills.
“These results are a clear demonstration that people are installing solar at significant financial cost because they want to increase the amount of renewable energy generation in Australia,” say Mr Moyse.
“Installing solar is not about reducing electricity bills, it’s about people wanting to make a personal contribution to tackling climate change.”
“It is inspiring to see that Australians are taking a lead on sustainable living, despite a host of inconsistent and confusing government policies,” says Mr Moyse.
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Click to view Survey results
Media enquiries: Bojun Chiswell – Media Manager – T(03) 9631 5409 E.bojun@ata.org.au
