Get informed on solar energy panels
Surviving The Solar Panel Installation Stampede http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3478 by Energy Matters , 21 Nov 12, Households in a hurry to have a solar panel system installed before the looming subsidy cut deadline still need to exercise caution and understand what it is they are buying – and who they are buying it from.
It’s an unfortunate situation that in any rush on solar, there will be victims of unethical providers. While these are certainly a minority in the industry, they do cause a lot of damage that also tarnishes the many reputable players.
When consumers have time to make a decision, they will tend to choose wisely; but with announcements such as the early end to the Solar Credits multiplier; the pressure is on to select a system and a solar panel installer – and mistakes can be made.
Energy Matters’ free Solar Power Consumer Guide is designed to help consumers select the right solar power system and avoid potential pitfalls. The online version primarily examines the tricks and traps and the more detailed 23 page download version covers the following topics: Continue reading
A searchlight in the Senate, into the Government’s Muckaty nuclear waste dump mess
The vast majority of people on the Muckaty Land Trust who are signatories, and their families, remain not only unpersuaded but implacably opposed. Does the government really think that the same factors will not come into play if another site is chosen in the same earthquake zone that has been the site of so much contest and division between family members since this nomination first came to light-a place where several of the same groups of traditional owners have the same interlocking ownership and the same say over country due to overlapping songlines and stories? All of the same problems will follow the dump if the government tries to simply move it 10 or 20 kilometres in one direction or another. It 
must know that.
Unanswered questions on notice regarding Muckaty nuclear waste dump, http://scott-ludlam.greensmps.org.au/content/speeches-parliament/unanswered-questions-notice-regarding-muckaty-nuclear-waste-dump
Senate transcript, 19 Nov 2012 “…..Senator LUDLAM: I will put some brief remarks on the record as to why I am bringing this forward now… I have sought explanation for these unanswered questions on notice because several of them pertain to time-sensitive matters.
Question No. 2389 included questions about the status of the tender process for the concept design of a national radioactive waste facility. The question also put to the minister whether the department had any dialogue or provided briefings to the new Northern Territory government or its agencies regarding the location of a national radioactive waste facility at Muckaty. Particularly importantly, the question asked: has the department had any dialogue with any stakeholders over the potential for a further site nomination, either within the Muckaty Land Trust area or in any other region of the Northern Territory or elsewhere?
At successive budget estimates hearings I have put precisely that question to officers from DRET: are you looking at an alternative site? We know that the government is in serious trouble with the existing Muckaty nomination that is now five or six years old. We have been warning the government, from the time that it was proposed in the late years of the Howard government to the time that it was taken up by Minister Martin Ferguson of the Rudd and then Gillard governments, that the government has gone the wrong way and that this proposal would fail. I believe what we are seeing now are some signs that the government realises its proposals for the Muckaty radioactive waste dump is going nowhere. Continue reading
Minister Martin Ferguson delaying answers to questions about Muckaty nuclear waste dump plan
http://scott-ludlam.greensmps.org.au/content/speeches-parliament/unanswered-questions-notice-regarding-muckaty-nuclear-waste-dump Unanswered questions on notice regarding Muckaty nuclear waste dump 19 Nov 2012 Today Senator Ludlam Scott took the opportunity 
immediately after Question Time to ask why Minister Martin Ferguson
had exceeded the 30 day limit for answering Questions on Notice. 2389 Senator Ludlam: To ask the Minister representing the Minister for Resources and Energy—
(1) With reference to the tender process for the concept design of a national radioactive waste facility:So far, Australian government catering to big utilities, to damage rooftop solar industry
Rooftop solar PV poses a greater threat to the business models of the utilities because it gets behind the meter. This means that, unlike the boom in air conditioners in recent years, rooftop solar PV reduces demand on the network rather than adds to it. The business models of all generators, distributors and retailers have long been based around the unwavering assumption of growing demand. They are simply not able to deal with with the absence of growth – and for this reason, rooftop solar PV is likely to have an even greater impact on their business models than more wind farms
Is Australia’s solar industry being blindsided by utilities?, REneweconomy, By Giles Parkinson 19 November 2012 Beware of people bearing gifts, the old saying goes. And beware of politicians bearing promises of a reduction in electricity bills.
The Federal Government last Friday announced the early closure of its Solar Credits scheme which offered a multiplier in the number of renewable energy certificate issued for the output of a rooftop solar PV systems.
It justified this on the basis that it would save Australian electricity consumers between $80 and $100 million in 2013. But this amounts to be just $10 a year, or 20c per household a week, in an average bill of more than $2,000. If the government were really serious about reducing the impact on electricity bills from the scheme, there were numerous other options.
It could, for instance, be pushing for a change in the rules that allow utilities to pass on a fixed $40 price for each certificate, rather than the much lower market price. (Only the ACT pricing regulator has reduced the pass-through cost, although NSW’s IPART is considering it). Such a move would save perhaps one quarter of the estimated $1.2 billion cost of the scheme this year. Even that amounts to less than 2 per cent of electricity bills – and is forecast to decline to around 0.8 per cent in coming years.
So what is the government up to? The decision announced by Climate Change Minister Greg Combet on Friday took the solar industry by surprise. It’s not so much the financial impact of the decision that worries the industry – it will reduce the savings of a 1.5kW system by around $700, but this was going to happen in July anyway. As Nigel Morris pointed out in his blog, the biggest impact is to effectively cancel Christmas for solar installers, because they will be too busy trying to cope with the last minute rush.
What really worries the solar industry is the form guide of the decision, its timing– coming in the middle of a review of the Renewable Energy Target by the Climate Change Authority – and its arbitrary nature. Continue reading
Victoria needs renewable energy planning (let’s kick Baillieu out)
Hot planning issue as solar left in shade, The Age November 18, 2012 Jason Dowling HOME owners are calling for solar panels to be protected with new planning rules and compensation should a neighbour build up and block sunlight to rooftops.
Victorian residents spending thousands of dollars installing solar power systems to offset escalating electricity prices now have no protection for their investment. There have been more than 142,000 roof-top solar systems installed in Victoria since 2000 – one in 15 Victorian homes now has solar panels.
The shading of solar panels as Melbourne’s housing density increases is becoming a hot planning issue.
Planning and building regulations protect north-facing windows and shading of back yards but do not specifically address the shading of solar panels…..
Stephen Ingrouille, owner of solar company Going Solar, said shading was occurring more frequently and could have a big impact on solar panels.
”The one thing they [solar panels] do need is direct sunlight and so they just have to be in full sun. And any shading, even shading over a portion of one corner of one cell can actually knock out a whole bank of cells – that’s the issue,” he said.
He said protection for solar panels through building and planning rules was needed.
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/hot-planning-issue-as-solar-left-in-shade-20121117-29j1g.html#ixzz2ChetfaFZ
Aboriginal traditional wisdom shared in Canadian land management programme
It’s a vastly different way of looking at environmental stewardship
It means from an indigenous perspective that we are not separate from nature. We belong to nature and there is no disconnect between humans and nature. That’s something we find in most indigenous cosmologies, that we are not here to dominant or exploit nature. We’re here to protect it and take care of it,”
Today’s aboriginal elders — with their links to the past — are forging an environmental future, Winnipeg Free Press By: Alexandra Paul 11/17/2012 “…..It used to be that you’d ask an elder if you had a question about anything aboriginal or wanted to understand traditions such as Ohcinewin.
But now, those in younger generations, such as Cook, 33, bring that ancient wisdom to bear on new applications, such as university programs in Western Canada that focus on aboriginal governance, environmental practices and literature. With the environment, the most practical application of traditional knowledge is tied to land management. Continue reading
Australia’s public liars being exposed
IPA falsifiers fear fact checking fad Independent Australia 19 November, 2012 Serial deceivers, the Institute of Public Affairs, appear decidedly nervous about the prospect of fact checking coming to Australia, reports Alan Austin.
WATCHING the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) become appalled at the threat of fact checking coming to Australia has been one of this year’s more entertaining media experiences. Writing on The Drum online last week, IPA research fellow and (according to his bio on The Drum*) editor of the IPA Review, Chris Berg claimed fact checking – that is, ensuring what is written is actually true – is
‘…appealing in principle. It is disappointing – even futile – in practice.’
Well, of course it is ― to the IPA. Its Review almost rivals The Australian for distortions and falsehoods. Almost. Its writers almost match Andrew Bolt for fabrications. Well, no, not really………
Even pro-Republican Fox News called Romney and Ryan out on their multiple fabrications.
Steve Benen’s influential website meticulously documented Romney’s porkies throughout the 2012 presidential campaign. He ended up with a total of 917 by election day ― a tally that would make even Australia’s “Lying Rodent” blush.
Most commentators assess this to have been a factor in the huge win for President Obama. How significant it was, of course, impossible to measure.
More urgently for Australia’s IPA, recent focus on the lies of their pal, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, has coincided with a dramatic fall in his approval rate to new record lows. Just coincidence? Again, hard to be certain. But the IPA is nervous……
Fact checkers are required primarily for calling out lies — deliberate statements of falsehood, made knowingly by politicians, the media and public commentators.
Australia, the USA and Britain today are rife with fabricators.
Journalists lie about public figures, about climate change and about Aboriginal people.
The IPA routinely fabricates and distorts in its advocacy on behalf of its undisclosed clients on tobacco marketing, internet privacy, climate change, controls over shonky charities and many other matters.
These are profound challenges facing Australia, the USA and Britain. Fact checkers can help us deal with them. http://www.independentaustralia.net/2012/business/media-2/ipa-falsifiers-fear-fact-checking-fad/
Australia’s solar rooftop industry looked successful, so government caved in to fossil fuel lobby to stop it
Greens leader, Senator Christine Milne, said the government’s move, combined with a decision to delay taxing methane gas emissions from mines and landfills, “gives the fossil fuel industry a reprieve.”
“It seems incredible that the government wants to bring forward harm to renewable energy industries but delay cost impacts to fossil fuel polluters,” she said.
Solar scheme shift stuns industry, SMH, November 16, 2012 – Peter Hannam Carbon economy editor A rebate for rooftop solar panels will be halved six months earlier than planned in a move blasted by an industry group
as “diabolical”. Climate Change Minister Greg Combet announced the solar credits scheme would end in January next year “due to continued strong demand for household solar”….. Continue reading
Uranium market down the drain, but CEOs can laugh to the bank
Borshoff collects some cash as Paladin shares head south November 17, 2012 Christopher Webb THE disposals table was topped this week by a large-scale sale by the managing director of Paladin Energy, where the share price has come under severe pressure recently.
John Borshoff collected $5.6 million from the sale of scrip at 94¢ apiece on Monday. The price has closed lower for each of the last nine days and on Friday lost as much as 8 per cent to 74¢, a level last seen early in 2005. Paladin is a one-time high-flyer that operates two uranium mines in Africa.
Chairman Rick Crabb said Borshoff’s sale was to release funds ”as part of the management of his personal financial affairs”…… http://www.theage.com.au/business/borshoff-collects-some-cash-as-paladin-shares-head-south-20121116-29ho8.html#ixzz2CWgzVyUU
Borshoff, a cut above http://www.theage.com.au/business/borshoff-a-cut-above-20121102-28pkf.html#ixzz2CWg9jYJs November 3, 2012 Peter Ker HE MAY have cut his salary by 25 per cent, but Paladin boss John Borshoff took home much more money in the year to June 30 than the year before.
The fine print of Paladin’s annual report reveals that despite honouring a promise to cut his salary between November 2011 and November 2012 – a promise extended to June 2013 – Mr Borshoff was able to boost his remuneration after a review of annual leave entitlements.
The review focused on annual and long-service leave in a bid to cut Paladin’s liabilities, and Mr Borshoff responded by cashing out 220 days of leave.
The transaction netted Mr Borshoff $1,717,000 and helped increase his remuneration to $3,464,000, well above the $2.26 million of the year before.
Mr Borshoff’s contract with Paladin has one year left, and provides him with three months’ long-service leave for every five years of service. He is entitled to two years of double base salary when he retires or has his employment terminated.
The 52 per cent rise in Mr Borshoff’s pay came in the year workers at the company’s uranium mine in Malawi had calls for a 66 per cent pay rise rejected.
Paladin maintained that Mr Borshoff’s remuneration is warranted, based on his expertise.
Some surprising trends in Australia’s large scale electricity generation
Australia’s renewable energy map – off-grid, it’s another story By Giles Parkinson on 16 November 2012
The Bureau of Research and Resource Economics this week released an update on Australia’s large scale electricity generation – what has just been built, what is been built, and what’s in the pipeline.
It’s a useful update, but it highlights some surprising trends, and some lost opportunities.
It notes, for instance, that of the 20 large scale plants under construction, all but six are in renewable energy. And of those six gas fired and coal fired plants that are being built, only one – Eraring Energy’s 240MW expansion in NSW – is connected to the National Electricity market
The others are located either in WA’s own market, or in off-grid and mini-grid locations around major mining areas – Queensland’s Mt Isa, the Pilbara region in WA, and the Northern Territory. The irony here is that these developments are mostly high-cost and are in areas that should afford renewables such as wind and solar the best chance of deployment on an economic basis. The fact that it hasn’t is one of the main problems that Greg Bourne is trying to address as chairman of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.
You’d think that miners – given their profits – and the high cost of energy in remote locations would be enthusiastic supporters, but it seems they need to have a subsidized example before they embrace the idea.
The fossil fuel component of the new build accounts for just less than one third of the 3,017MW of plant under construction, and about a similar share of the cost.
Of the renewables projects, most are in wind (just one in solar), and half are in Victoria, despite that state’s blustering about renewable energy and it’s dangers on health and amenity…. http://reneweconomy.com.au/2012/australias-renewable-energy-map-off-grid-its-another-story-10111
Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) promoting regional renewables
ARENA’s regional outlook; Solar Dawn discontinued, http://ecogeneration.com.au/news/arena/078757/ , 16 November 2012 A new program to increase renewable energy uptake in regional and remote areas of Australia has been announced by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, as part of its inaugural General Funding Strategy and Investment Plan for 2012-15 .
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) also announced that it will no longer pursue development of the 250 MW Solar Dawn project in Queensland.
ARENA Chair Greg Bourne said the General Funding Strategy and accompanying Investment Plan for 2012-15 includes strategic, supporting and complementary initiatives to drive long-term change. Continue reading
Australian govt puts the brakes on rooftop solar, after intense lobbying by fossil fuel utilities
for most Australians from January 1, there will be virtually no additional subsidies for rooftop solar PV installations.
The solar industry was stunned by the move and still had not figured out its implications.
the decision also comes after intense public lobbying from utilities and generators, particularly Origin Energy
Canberra brings early end to rooftop Solar Credits scheme http://reneweconomy.com.au/2012/canberra-brings-early-end-to-rooftop-solar-credits-scheme-97164 By Giles Parkinson 16 November 2012The Federal Government has announced the early closure of its Solar Credits scheme, meaning that rooftop solar PV installations will receive only one renewable energy certificate for every megawatt hour of electricity produced from January 1.
The closure of the scheme, six months early, is the second time the government has intervened in the program, which was originally intended to end in 2015. Last year, it announced that the closure was being brought forward by 12 months. Continue reading
Electricity from sugar power at Mackay, Queensland – AUDIO
AUDIO Mackay running on sugar power http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/201211/s3633288.htm By Michael Cavanagh, 15/11/2012 From today, 30 per cent of the electricity needs of Mackay on Queensland’s central coast will be supplied by the Racecourse Sugar Mill located on the city’s outskirts.
The bagasse, or sugar waste, has long been used to power the mill’s operations. Now, with the use of more efficient boilers and a newsteam turbine generator, the excess will be pushed into the town’s electricity grid.
Mackay Sugar is one of Australia’s top 500 carbon emitters. Business development manager John Hodgson says this is a further reason to move away from more traditional power.
“So we have a liability for those emissions and we desperately want to get off that list of high emitters so that is another big incentive to displace coal with stored bagasse.”
The Racecourse Mill cogeneration project is costing around $120 million. A small part of this is government funding, with the bulk coming from Mackay Sugar.
The man with his hand on the purse is Mackay Sugar CEO Quinton Hildebrand. He says it’s a “good commercial venture” with an expected “payback” over the next six years. Mackay Sugar receives payments on a monthly basis, which are calculated on the power exported.
Alice Springs water supply from aquifer is dwindling
This is a very bad omen for the water intensive uranium mining industry – C.M.
Talks focus on alternative Alice water supplies http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-15/talks-focus-on-alternative-alice-water-supplies/4373848 By Ruby Jones Nov 15, 2012 The deputy director of the National Centre for Groundwater Research says alternative water supplies need to be found for Alice Springs.
Peter Cook says the aquifer that provides the town’s fresh water supply is being drawn down. Professor Cook says the centre is negotiating with the Northern Territory Government on investigating alternatives.
“We’ve had some very preliminary discussions with the Territory Government about whether we should develop a project to look at the options for future water supplies for Alice Springs because I’m aware that the current aquifer …. [is being] drawn down and there is a need to look for alternative supplies for the future,” he said.
“We’re already doing some work in the Ti Tree [area] and we’re keen to do some more work in Alice Springs and where there might potentially be new supplies.
“We would definitely expect what we learn in Ti Tree would really help us understand better what happens in Alice Springs and other aquifers in central Australia.”
South Africa leads in solar thermal, where sunny Australia fears to go
Australia concedes lead in solar thermal technology to South Africa, REneweconomy, By Giles Parkinson 12 November 2012 It is ironic that in the same week that the ambitious $1.2 billion Solar Dawn solar thermal project in south-west Queensland should finally be put to rest, construction of two solar thermal projects – with storage – should begin in South Africa.
The last chance for the Solar Dawn consortium led by French nuclear giant Areva for the construction of a 250MW solar thermal plant in Queensland, or even a scaled down version of it, was removed when the Australian Renewable Energy Agency rejected its funding proposal – after the federal government had done so under the previous Solar Flagships program.
Meanwhile, in South Africa, the Spanish group Abengoa last week began construction of two solar thermal projects boasting a mixture of solar tower and parabolic trough technologies. The 50MW Khi Solar One and 100MW KaXu Solar One CSP (concentrating solar power, another name for solar thermal) projects will feature storage and dry cooling technologies, to reduce water demands.
These are the sort of projects that should be pioneered and deployed in Australia. Instead, Australia’s obsession with grandiose schemes, its inflexible funding arrangements, and the lack of true support from state governments and major utilities, mean South Africa will lead and Australia will follow.
The failure of the Solar Flagships program, or the inability of various projects to lock in power price arrangements is not a failure of technology, as many would like to portray it, but a failure of policy – where the hubris of government overwhelms sound technical advice from the industry. It was an idea dreamed up by the egos in the office of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, and the bureaucrats were never able to meet the impossible task of matching such grandiose dreams – of having the biggest, but not necessarily the best – with sound policies. The coup-de-grace was delivered by Queensland Premier Campbell Newman in a similarly grand-standing gesture…..
The one opportunity that Australia now has for a solar thermal project in the short term may well be in Port Augusta, where Alinta has held some discussions with ARENA, for a possible replacement of its coal-fired power stations there. What they may propose, however, is a hybrid systems no dissimilar to the solar booster that is currently being built in Queensland by Areva.
But the importance of solar thermal should not be underestimated. Even the Energy White Paper, a conservative document prepared by the Federal Energy ministry and released last week, said 16 per cent of Australia’s electricity demand could be sourced from solar thermal by 2050. That could make Australia a leader in solar thermal, but for the moment it trails……
South Africa is succeeding with stand alone systems because it has introduced a market-focused system that has successfully attracted many of the world’s largest solar and other alternative energy developers, through an auction-based system that has attracted more than $5 billion of projects in its first two auctions.
The ACT is the only state or territory government that has pursued a similar strategy, albeit at a much smaller scale. It has so far had one round of bidding that should see a 20MW solar PV project being built near Canberra by the end of 2013…… http://reneweconomy.com.au/2012/australia-concedes-lead-in-solar-thermal-technology-to-south-africa-91812
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