Solar energy lacks national plan, Australian govt slow to help

The Australian solar industry is battling to ensure that government support for large-scale development holds up, following a string of setbacks for a rooftop solar sector that has seen subsidies withdrawn or reduced across the nation…..

Australia needs national plan for large solar, says industry, Recharge 13 Sept 11, Australia risks missing its potential in large-scale solar without a stable policy and planning regime to underpin a steady pipeline of projects, the country’s renewables industry association has warned.

Launching its Large-scale Solar Policy Roadmap, Australia’s Clean Energy Council (CEC) calls on the country’s policy-makers to capitalise on the interest the federal government’s A$1.5bn ($1.6bn) Solar Flagships programme has generated among international investors.

“There are solid funding commitments from state and federal governments, but very little money has made it into projects on the ground yet,” says Matthew Warren, CEC executive director.

Large-solar’s supporters claim further action is needed if more projects such as GE and Verve Energy’s recently-announced 10MW plant, Australia’s first utility-scale PV array, are to proceed.

The CEC wants Australia’s federal and state governments to draw-up a clear plan of the large solar projects needed by 2020, 2030 and 2050.

The body also calls for help securing long-term funding for projects, streamlining of planning processes, work on grid connection and improvements in the quality of solar resource data.

“The next five years are crucial if Australia is to harness its most famous resource, the sun, and once again lay claim to the title of the ‘clever country’,” Warren says…….

Some analysts believe the government’s recently-announced Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) could have a big impact on the roll-out of large-scale solar.

The CEFC may offer US-style loan guarantees, which Kobad Bhavnagri, Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s lead clean-energy analyst in Australia, says could particularly suit large-scale PV and solar thermal projects, which are technically proven but not yet cost-competitive.

“We forecast that CEFC loan guarantees could make the best large-scale PV cost-competitive with the worst wind site by 2015,” Bhavnagri told the Ecogeneration conference in Brisbane.

They could boost the amount of large-scale PV built by 2020 under Australia’s renewable energy targets to 5.1GW from 2.1GW without them, Bhavnagri says. Solar thermal generation rises to 2.1GW from 900MW with loan guarantees.

http://www.rechargenews.com/energy/solar/article277683.ece