Australia eclipsed in commercial solar uptake
http://www.examiner.com.au/story/4876719/australia-eclipsed-in-commercial-solar-uptake/?cs=97 Reece Turner, 27 Aug 2017, Australia is seeing a new boom in solar energy generation powered by nose-bleeding electricity and gas price rises. In fact, Australian households are approaching 25 per cent solar uptake, which is the highest in the world by a large margin.
In Illawarra, there are 11,259 households powered by the sun and, according to advocacy group Solar Citizens, this saves residents $5.4 million every year. This is great for job creation and the environment.
However, when it comes to businesses installing solar power, Australia’s doing far worse. Estimates are we’re not even in the top 20 countries for commercial solar.
Community energy group Repower and solar engineering company Planet Ark Power hope to change that by helping more companies in Illawarra to take up solar.
This month, at the Wollongong Tennis Club, we’ll be launching “Repower Wollongong”. This follows successful launches of Repower Shoalhaven and Repower Southern Highlands. Indeed, this model of community energy group is one of the most successful in the country, assisting 17 businesses save thousands on their bills.
Many businesses are interested in going solar, but there are some hurdles. One of them can be the upfront costs. A commercial solar system generates free energy for 25 or 30 years, but the initial investment can be anything from $20,000 upwards.
The Repower community energy model removes this hurdle by collecting community investment that pays for the system upfront and then sells the clean energy back to the business at a rate cheaper than grid electricity and with a degree of certainty against rising energy hikes.
It’s a brilliant model delivering returns to the community, helping save on business costs and supporting local jobs. Find out more at www.repower.net.au
Reece Turner is business development manager at Planet Ark Power.
So-called ‘Ignorant’ former state agronomists demand scrapping of Shenhua coal mine
‘Ignorant’: Former state agronomists demand scrapping of Shenhua coal mine, The Age, Peter Hannam, 27 Aug 17
Claims that Shenhua’s restricted coal mining will avoid affecting the aquifers of the rich farmlands of the Liverpool Plains are “false and ignorant”, former state and private agronomists have said in a letter to Premier Gladys Berejiklian.
The government last month paid the Chinese coal miner $262 million for just over half the exploration licence area of the proposed mine at Watermark in northern NSW. Energy Minister Don Harwin said the buyback would ensure there was no mining on the fertile black soils of the plains.
But the agronomists, five of whom worked for the Department of Primary Industries or precursor departments, said limiting the proposed open cut mine to ridges would still likely affect surface and groundwater flows in the plains and downstream regions.
“The claim that mining the ridges above Breeza will not have an impact on farming operations is false and ignorant,” the letter’s authors said.
“Hydrogeological investigations have shown that there is a high degree of connectivity between the alluvial aquifers throughout the Namoi Valley.” Brian Tomalin, a retired cattle farmer and a former Namoi Catchment Management board member, told Fairfax Media endangered ecological communities such as whitebox woodlands were also at risk from impacts of an open pit reaching as deep as 300 metres.
The retired agronomists said a range of studies indicated that, at the least, the government should be demanding more research to assess the risks posed by the mine.
“The Namoi Catchment Water Study, the Independent Expert Scientific Committee and the Federal Environment Minister all identified the need for more information to inform the decision-making process,” the letter said. “To date this has not happened.” http://www.theage.com.au/environment/ignorant-former-state-agronomists-demand-scrapping-of-shenhua-coal-mine-20170822-gy1iw1.html
28 August REneweconomy news
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Renewables delivering – despite enemies and “lukewarm defenders”Green Energy Markets Renewable Energy Index shows an industry delivering on its promise: fulfilling a large and growing part of Australia’s energy needs while also providing meaningful employment.
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Sapphire Wind Farm seeks community investors in possible Australian firstSapphire Wind Farm developer calls on community investors to take shares in what will be NSW biggest wind farm.
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Snowy Hydro 2.0 Powering AheadSnowy Hydro 2.0 is already employing 350 people and will create more than 5000 new jobs during the construction phase of the development.
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Know your NEM: Canberra fiddling while Rome burns on energy pricesFederal Government turns attention back to electricity prices, but while their interest is welcome, it is in a sense just fiddling while Rome burns.
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WA mulls three gigawatt-scale PV plants to export solar to AsiaPlans to build three gigawatt-scale solar farms in Western Australia’s Pilbara and Kimberley regions and sell their output to Indonesia via submarine cables, could soon be commercially viable.
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Victoria proposes “hybrid” contracts for new wind and solar farmsVictoria “hybrid” contract for its 650MW large scale renewable energy action, combining fixed payment with “contract for difference” that will cap its exposure.
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NSW on renewables: All talk, not much actionNSW talks a good talk on renewable energy but offers few actions. Its share of new renewables is far smaller than its share of electricity consumption and this is particularly marked in PV, yet Transgrid sees huge opportunities.
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S.A. calls tender for “next generation” renewables and storageSouth Australia seeks bids for “next generation” of renewable energy technologies, including “firming” capacity for wind and solar projects, bulk energy storage, and bio-energy.
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Shell wins approval for 250MW solar plant in Queensland coal countryShell wins planning approval for 250MW solar plant in heart of Queensland’s coal country, in what appears to be its first big move into large scale solar in Australia.
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WA bathes in sunshine, but poorest households lack solar panelsSolar panels are still a rarity in WA’s lower-income areas.
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
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