Antinuclear

Australia’s solar voters: a new phenomenon challenging politicians

The leading electorate with the most rooftop solar systems is Wright in south-east Queensland, held by the Liberal National Party’s Scott Buchholz. In second place — for both PV and hot water systems — is Lalor, the seat held by Prime Minister Julia Gillard (25,829 systems)..

The rise of the solar voter — they’re not where you think Crikey, GILES PARKINSON | NOV 05, 2012  Analysis shows where Australia’s solar panels are — and it’s not in the inner-city latte set. Some politicians may need to rethink their view on support for solar, writes Giles Parkinson of RenewEconomy. For years, some politicians have wanted to dismiss rooftop solar PV (and other renewables), as a middle-class fetish for wanting to be green. The last thing they would have expected was solar emerging as a political issue, not just on the state and national scale, but in their own electorates.

They were mistaken.

A series of surveys and postcode analysis has shown that Australia has one of the highest deployments of small-scale systems on household roofs in the world — beaten only by Japan — and most of this has been put on the rooftops of households in the nation’s mortgage belts, in the city and in regional areas.

Finally, someone has done the obvious and made the effort to link these installations with electoral divisions. The results will take many politicians by surprise. Now they must now sit up and take notice.

The Australian Solar Council, the Solar Energy Industries Association and the community-based lobby group 100% Renewables teamed up to commission leading industry analyst Sunwiz to plot a solar electorate map, which shows where householders are investing in solar panels and hot water systems to cut their power bills.

The new map is designed to help federal MPs see just how many solar voters there are in their local area and demonstrate how important the Renewable Energy Target (RET) is for their electorate, and how rooftop solar is treated not just by the RET, but by state-based tariffs and by their local utilities and network providers, many of whom are fearful of what solar PV will do to their business.

The leading electorate with the most rooftop solar systems is Wright in south-east Queensland, held by the Liberal National Party’s Scott Buchholz. In second place — for both PV and hot water systems — is Lalor, the seat held by Prime Minister Julia Gillard (25,829 systems)…… http://www.crikey.com.au/2012/11/05/the-rise-of-the-solar-voter-theyre-not-where-you-think/

November 6, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, politics