Antinuclear

In comments made to a conference hosted by GE, the largest supplier of energy equipment in the world, Origin Energy’s head of energy markets, Frank Calabria, said the uptake of distributed generation such as solar and storage had taken – and would likely continue to take – the industry by surprise.

“Technology will disrupt,” Calabria told a “GE at Work” session on Powering Australia. “I think we have underestimated the rate of onset –not just of solar PV, but PV with the combination of storage as a greater disruption potential. That is not too far away.”

The comments by Calabria shouldn’t be a surprise, given that Australia now has a total of nearly 3GW of rooftop solar PV, and one of the highest levels of rooftop solar penetration in the world. That, in turn, has led to falling demand from the grid, reduced wholesale electricity prices, and the mothballing of nearly a similar amount of coal-fired generation as a consequence.

There is now a growing recognition of the disruptive influences of solar within the Australian electricity industry – something they did not want to admit even just 12 months ago.

Energy ministers in NSW, Queensland and Western Australia admit to being taken by surprise by the take—up of solar, even after the ending of most subsidies. Queensland generators and network operators such as Stanwell Corp, Energex andErgon Energy have also noted the profound impact of  solar, although they vary about whether this is a blight, a blessing, or an opportunity to the future.

Later, Calabria told RenewEconomy: “No-one anticipated the level of solar to have penetrated the market as much as it has today …. So industries like ours have to face the prospect of underestimating what they can do in the future.

“If we don’t watch that – combined with what is happening in storage – we could underestimate its development going forward. It would continue to promote a trend of more generation in people’s homes.”…..

The Coalition has said that it will deliver electricity price cuts of 10 per cent by repealing the carbon price. Calabria and others on the panel said the challenge was making this price reduction clear to consumers, as it was likely to be overshadowed by other factors – such as rising network costs (Energex has flagged a 10 per cent interest in those costs next year)……

As RenewEconomy has reported, the renewables industry is seeking to find a compromise position to try to avoid a lengthy review of the RET – promised by the new government – which would translate into another lengthy hiatus in investment. It is understood that the Clean Energy Council is hosting a strategy meeting with key stakeholders today (Tuesday)……http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/origin-says-solar-and-storage-coming-quicker-than-thought-76354