Antinuclear

Abbott government policies cloud the future for solar energy projects

Policy cloud puts up to $110m in solar energy projects on hold SMH, April 8, 2014   Jared Lynch Business reporter Solar projects totaling tens of millions of dollars are at risk after the Abbott government launched a review into its renewable energy targets.

First Solar, the company building the southern hemisphere’s biggest solar plant, said it was reconsidering its future investment plans for Australia, citing increased policy uncertainty.

About $90 million to $110 million worth of projects have been put on hold, First Solar vice president for business development Jack Curtis said. ”We don’t have a great line of sight as to where the next round of projects is coming from, largely as a function of the uncertainty in the policy backdrop,” Mr Curtis said.

The government had planned to source 41,000 gigawatt hours from renewable sources by 2020, or 20 per cent of total supply in that year. But that is being questioned after the government appointed former Reserve Bank board member and global warming sceptic Dick Warburton to head the review.

Mr Curtis said many solar projects only needed short-term incentives. He believed the solar industry had a ”credible path” to become self sustainable, citing its ability to ”dramatically” reduce costs.

For example, in the past five years, the US solar industry had cut costs by 60-70 per cent, Mr Curtis said.

”We are not saying ‘support solar … and we’ll keep saying thanks’. What we are saying that there is a very credible path given the cost reduction demonstrated by the solar industry that it can get to a point where it is a sustainable industry.” First Solar is building two solar plants at Nyngan and Broken Hill in NSW with energy company AGL………

The projects that are on hold are mainly in the mining sector, helping companies with the off-grid operations, Mr Curtis said.
He said those projects had an economic multiplier effect of 1.5x, so for every $1 the government spent, $1.50 was injected into the broader economy. ”[The federal government] obviously has a tight fiscal outlook that they have to manage and we are sympathetic of that.

”But if their other industries that are on the up and up that can generate a 1.5 multiplier for every $1 the government invested, I’d like to hear about them because I think that’s a pretty good positive return on the allocation of government funds.” http://www.smh.com.au/business/carbon-economy/policy-cloud-puts-up-to-110m-in-solar-energy-projects-on-hold-20140408-36a7c.html

April 9, 2014 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, solar