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Renewable Energy Tariffs in Australia
Federal Government
- Who's afraid of feed-in tariffs? by Matthew Wright--Feed-in tariffs were always set to be controversial – they turn the electricity market on its head by opening it for true competition. But they got more controversy than they deserved thanks to the mistake of green groups who only lobbied for feed-in tariffs for small-scale generators, and the incompetence of state government energy departments for managing to draft legislation that didn’t learn from the spectacular success of the German feed-in tariff legislation, the Renewable Energy Sources Act – legislation that has undergone 10 years of tweaking, overhaul and improvement. . .
- Energy Matters: Renewable Energy Not The Electricity Price Rise Culprit--A recent update paper from the Australian Government's climate change advisor, Professor Ross Garnaut, has confirmed that renewable energy is not the major culprit in electricity price rises and acknowledges its increasingly important role in distributed generation. . .
- Renewable Energy World: REC Price Crash in Australia: What To Do?--Australian RECs may still have been serving a purpose - supporting widespread rooftop solar - but are no longer functioning to incent the development of large-scale wind farms, something they were broadly expected to do. Indeed, companies placed large bets on the continued value of the REC market. For example, Australia's largest renewable baseload generator, NSW Sugar Milling Co-operative, faces receivership unless the REC price nearly doubles. . .
- Energy Matters: New South Wales Solar Slap Re-ignites Call For National Feed-in Tariff--The NSW Government's decision to reduce the rates paid under its generous solar power feed in tariff program, the Solar Bonus Scheme, has strengthened the case for a national, uniform system. . .
- Western Australia Sustainable Energy Association Calls for National FITs--
Western Australia SEA has called on the new Gillard Government to work with the Council Of Australian Governments (COAG) to develop a nationally consistent gross feed-in tariff (FiT) for renewable energy. . .
- Recent Election Boosting Greens Could Aid Feed-in Tariffs in Australia--One of the cornerstones of the Greens' renewable energy policies is a national gross feed-in tariff that would pay a uniform premium rate for all electricity generated by systems large and small - from home solar power systems to major wind farms. Currently Australia has a fractured feed-in tariff system with various States having their own programs and most working under the net model; meaning the premium rate is only paid on electricity generated surplus to consumption. . .
- Aussie Petition Drive: Let's get Australia moving on solar feed in tariffs!--Sign the petition and help Rudd choose a solar future! . . . says web site created by Energy Matters.
- The Australian: Green power feasible--Australian Academy of Science . . . calls for a national system of feed-in tariffs, the price paid for green energy by householders and businesses into the grid. . .
The new Labor government campaigned on a "consistent national approach to feed-in tariffs". The Australian Coucil of Governments is preparing a report on Climate Change that will include a discussion of feed-in tariffs. However, no action is pending.
New South Wales
- NSW Solar Bonus Scheme Approaches 300MW Capacity--New South Wales' Solar Bonus Scheme, prior to recent cuts, was one of Australia's most generous feed in tariff schemes. Rates for the hugely popular program were unexpectedly slashed from 60c/kWh to 20c/kWh for new connections in late October. . .
- Peak Energy: What really killed NSW solar?--And while some social service groups had complained about the inequality of the scheme, the report noted that the cost of solar panels had come down so quickly in the last 12 months – from $12,600 per kilowatt to $6,000/kW (they had been $17,000/kW in 2001) – that installations had been offered for zero up front cost by some retailers. Clearly, the battlers in the mortgage belt were quicker to seize a bargain that the toffs in the inner suburbs. . .
- Greens: NSW Solar Mismanagment Another Reason for National Feed-in Tariff--Sydney (mathaba) The NSW government's decision yesterday to slash its feed-in tariff for rooftop solar panels is another reason for the Federal government to support the Greens' move for a national feed-in tariff. . .
- NSW Government Revamps Solar Program--“There is strong support in the community for this program and that’s why we are continuing with it, but it’s about getting the balance right,” Ms Keneally said. “This is about ensuring this hugely successful program can continue at a more sustainable rate. . .
- Suntech's Dr. Shi Applauds Australian Feed-in Tariff--Chinese solar PV powerhouse, Suntech, applauds the Australian state of New South Wales for its adoption of a feed-in tariff. . .
- New South Wales To Have Australia's Largest FIT--The Premier of Australia's largest state, New South Wales, recently announced a gross feed-in tariff (FIT) of AU $0.60/kWh for seven years. . .
South Australia
The limited and timid program import-export metering of South Australia's state government has gone into effect. The program pays $0.44 AUD/kWh for any excess generation to small electricity customers for a period of 20 years.
Tasmania
On October 31, 2008, Tasmanian Minister of Energy & Resources began circulating a discussion paper on whether the use of feed-in tariffs was a "useful pricing mechanism for encouraging the generation of renewable electricity at a household level". This is the first formal recognition of feed-in tariffs in Tasmania. Several other Australian states are debating various feed-in tariff proposals as is the federal government.
Queensland
Queensland copied South Australia's program
Victoria
The Victoria state government has proposed a policy to go into effect in 2009 that pays $0.60 AUD/kWh for excess generation for 15 years for PV system less than 2 kW in size only. The Victoria program is even more restrictive than the other states.
Australian Capital Territory
The parliament of the Capital Territory (Canberra) has passed the only true system of feed-in tariffs in Australia. As opposed to other programs paying for "excess" generation, the ACT's policy pays for "gross" generation, that is, all generation delivered for export. Further the ACT proposal is for all small-scale renewables, not just solar PV.
The ACT tariff is 3.88 times the standard retail tariff or about $0.57 AUD/kWh for systems less than 10 kW in size. The tariff for systems 10 kW to 30 kW is 80% of the retail rate, and for systems greater than 30 kW the tariff is 75% of the retail rate. This tariff system resembles the early German system from 1991 to 2000 and the Spanish system up to 2007.
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