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A
nnounced 10 years ago, solar
feed-in tariffs (FITs) have already
proved enormously successful in
achieving their goal of kickstarting solar
panel adoption in this country.
Australia is the world leader in its per
capita deployment of solar panels. Earlier
this year, Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg,
speaking on the ABC’s show
Q&A
, said
that nearly 15% of Australian households
have solar panels on their roofs.
“That’s the highest number of solar
panels on people’s roofs per capita
anywhere in the world,” he said.
The Conversation
’s fact-checking
service subsequently upped the ante by
reporting that the latest data suggest this
penetration rate is more like 16.5%.
Independent community organisation
Solar Citizens released a report in June this
year that says Australians have installed
23.2 million solar panels. Consumers have
spent more than $1 billion of their own
money to install small solar systems with
less than 10kWh of capacity.
From a public policy point of view, this is
‘Mission Accomplished’.
The solar panel installation industry
is now well and truly established in
Australia. Continuing to pay generous
solar FITs beyond this point represents
a substantial forward liability for the
public purse that does not deliver
improved public good outcomes.
However, state governments are
clearly sensitive to the political risk of
simply cancelling these long-running
tariff schemes, some of which hold
liabilities to as far as 2028. Fortunately,
policy makers have an attractive way to
solve this problem - a solution that will
deliver both public policy and industry
development benefits and keep voters
happy while simultaneously removing
long term liabilities.
This solution involves inviting consumers
to voluntarily trade in the residual life of
36 E L EC TR I C AL CONNEC T I ON
SUMME R 20 1 6
POWERING THE BATTERY BOOM
STATE GOVERNMENTS
CAN DELIVER BENEFITS TO
ELECTRICITY CONSUMERS,
AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY AND THE
PUBLIC PURSE BY USING HOME
BATTERY STORAGE INCENTIVES
TO ENCOURAGE CONSUMERS TO
‘TRADE IN’ GENEROUS SOLAR
FEED-IN TARIFFS, WRITES
SIMONHACKETT.
Redflow chief executive Simon Hackett with ZCell battery enclosure.
ASSAULT OF THE BATTERIES