Promises about power prices from Queensland govt are just not credible
QLD Government Has ‘No Credibility’ On Power Price Promises http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=4265 Queensland Shadow Treasurer and Energy Spokesman Curtis Pitt has taken aim at the Newman Government’s latest promises concerning electricity prices in the state.
Energy Minister Mark McArdle yesterday announced changes he claims will save electricity distributors $2 billion dollars.
“No-one will forget Campbell Newman’s pledge during the 2012 election campaign to lower electricity prices by $120 per year, and then driving average prices up by $460 over two years,” Mr Pitt said.
Mr Pitt also criticised Minister McArdle’s move to abolish the mandatory 8c solar feed-in tariff; leaving households with solar power systems to negotiate directly with electricity retailers for a rate on their exported power. Mr. Pitt says the Minister has admitted this would save the princely sum of less than $1 a month on the average Queensland’s household’s electricity bill.
Reacting also to comments from Minister McArdle in the Courier Mail, Mr. Pitt seized on the Minister’s admission that green energy is not the major driver of electricity price rises in the state.
“Finally the LNP has admitted that the biggest contributor to electricity price rises is the network charges they oversee as the Government,” he said.
“As the independent Queensland Competition Authority figures show if only the carbon tax and environmental policies were a factor prices rises this year would be just 3% on average not a record 22.6%.”
It’s an interesting side-point that a major beneficiary of power price rises in Queensland is the State Government. Analysis carried out last year indicates electricity price increases have delivered a compounding 114% growth in financial returns to the State Government annually.
No doubt many Queenslanders are still considering installing solar given the ongoing financial pain at the power point. Even with the proposed changes to feed in tariffs, solar remains a solid investment. However, the future of subsidies under Australia’s Renewable Energy Target – which can take thousands off the cost of a system – are also in doubt. That being the case, the best time to go solar may be right now.
Government money for new coal projects should go to recovery from Morwell mine fire
Morwell community group wants coal money be used for mine fire recovery ABC Radio A.M.
Samantha Donovan reported this story on Wednesday, April 16, 2014 CHRIS UHLMANN: Residents of the east Victorian town of Morwell are urging the Federal and State Governments to redirect millions of dollars earmarked for new brown coal projects in the area to cleaning up their town after the Hazelwood mine fire.
The fire, which started in February, choked the town with smoke and ash for weeks and drove hundreds of people from their homes and businesses and the locals say government funding should be used to help them and not the coal industry.
Samantha Donovan reports….. http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2014/s3986525.htm
Visual history of Aboriginal culture
Amy Toensing Shares the Story Behind Her Photographs of the Oldest Culture On Earth, Peta Pixel, 15 April 14 At an estimated 60,000 years old, the indigenous culture of Australia, the Aboriginals, are estimated to be the oldest still-surviving culture on the planet. And in the above video world-renown photographer Amy Toensing shares her experience photographing this incredibly unique culture for National Geographic, delivering an extremely heartfelt talk about the hardships the Aboriginal culture has continually faced since their land was colonized in 1788…….Toensing does an absolutely incredible job of balancing her own thoughts and giving a historical and personal account of the Aboriginals she came across on this journey…….
Amy Toensing Shares the Story Behind Her Photographs of the Oldest Culture On Earth
Julie Bishop visits Hiroshima. Will she reflect on the real costs of Australia’s uneconomic uranium trade?
Julie Bishop’s visit to Hiroshima: a perfect time to debate our uranium industry http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/11/julie-bishops-visit-to-hiroshima-a-perfect-time-to-debate-our-uranium-industry Dave Sweeney theguardian.com, Friday 11 April 2014Uranium is not like any other mineral – and because Australia is home to around 40% of the worlds’ uranium, the decisions we make on the subject matter Australia’s foreign minister Julie Bishop is in Japan today attend an international meeting on nuclear security in Hiroshima a city synonymous with nuclear threat. Indeed, a visit is not complete without wandering the hallowed grounds of the famous Peace Park, the epicentre of the early morning nuclear blast that killed up to 140,000 people on 6 August 1945.Bishop is also visiting a country that is still enduring the ongoing trauma associated with the Fukushima earthquake and tsunami and the wors tnuclear disaster of modern times – a disaster that, three years on, has left the region comprised of ghost towns and shattered lives.
In visiting Hiroshima, it would be fitting for Australia’s foreign minister to reflect publicly on Australia’s role in fuelling Japan’s continuing nuclear disaster. In October 2011, Robert Floyd, the director general of the Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, confirmed to the parliament that “Australian obligated nuclear material [uranium] was at the Fukushima Daiichi site and in each of the reactors”.
Given that, it would be timely for Bishop to use the opportunity to commito an independent cost-benefit assessment of Australia’s uranium trade, as directly requested by the UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon in the wake of the accident. The need for such an inquiry has never been more pressing.
n Australia, low uranium prices have seen existing uranium mines close down. New uranium mining projects are being delayed, and the sector is under pressure. And that’s not to even mention spills – such as was seen with the December 2013 uranium tank collapse and the leak at Rio Tinto’s ranger mine in Kakadu.
Australia also continues to uncritically supply our existing uranium customers, despite evidence of alarming unsafe practices in countries like South Korea. Our deal with Russia also deserves greater scrutiny, as the International Atomic Energy Agency has not carried out any inspections there since at least 2001. We aggressively push new uranium deals to countries like India, whose nuclear industry has been called unsafe by its own auditor general, and which point blank refuses to sign the global nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
Bishop’s visit to Hiroshima, of all places, is an ideal time to reflect on the very nature of Australia’s uranium – that it is not like any other mineral. Uranium can fuel both nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons, and it all becomes radioactive waste. Australia is home to around 40% of the worlds’ uranium, and the decisions we make matter. In the shadow of Fukushima, we need to review the costs and consequences of our uranium trade at home and abroad and act on the UN’s inquiry call.
If Bishop continues to put the interests of a high risk, low return industrial sector before those of our nation and region, the consequence is that it is likely that Australia’s uranium sector will fuel future Fukushimas. This need not, and must not, occur.
Pilliga protest: Aussies against fracking gather to protect Australia’s agricultural land
North-coast artists and activists join Pilliga protest , Echo Daily, 10 April 14, The issue of CSG mining is in the forefront of people’s consciousnesses across the country and no less in the Pilliga, with activists locking on at the Santos coal seam gas drill rig site in the Pilliga forest.
On Saturday at Barkala Farm in the Pilliga, just north of Coonabarabran, a ‘Party at Maria’s Place’ concert was held to support to local residents united to protect prime agricultural land and culturally and environmentally significant country from quickly expanding CSG and coal mining in north west NSW.
Aussies Against Fracking, in conjunction with The Wilderness Society and Pilliga Pottery, organised the event, and The Echo’s Eve Jeffery and S Sorrensen were invited to make the journey, along with veteran journo Margo Kingston and Aussies Against Fracking director Nick Hanlon.
There, the group discovered sixth-generation farmers being forced out and arrested while entire farming regions are being bought up by Chinese state-owned corporation Shenhua Watermark Coal.
This fight is not about hippies with time on their hands. People from all walks of life including students, the aged, and farmers, are all downing tools and putting their life on hold to send a clear message. Lock The Gate!
There have been a reported 17 arrests so far, including eight on the weekend, says Ms Hanlon……….
The amalgamation of the Boggabri and Maules Creek mines in the northern Liverpool Plains will create the biggest coal mine in NSW. This mine will significantly increase greenhouse gas emissions for Australia and will impact on global climate change. Tim Flannery said recently that this mine is anticipated to create more greenhouse gas emissions in a year than the country of New Zealand.
With renewable alternatives available, and with the health impacts of the coal- and CSG-mining industries becoming increasingly apparent, highlighting the plight of a threatened rural Australia is increasingly urgent.http://www.echo.net.au/2014/04/north-coast-artists-activits-join-pilliga-protest/
Australia’s Mining operations increasingly seeking renewable energy partnerships
Business as usual’ for Government agency part-funding Broken Hill and Nyngan Solar Farms ABC News 10 April 14
The Clean Energy Council’s Kane Thornton says far-western NSW is well-positioned for clean energy projects, particularly when done in tandem with the mining sector.
“Places like Broken Hill obviously have a long and rich history in mining,” he said.
“But I think the future is going to be really interesting because it’s got a great resource in wind and solar and they provide a low-cost form of energy to continue to support things like mining and manufacturing and other important parts of the Australian economy.
“So it’s not surprising that a lot of these mining companies are actively looking at things like wind and solar in particular as a way to provide them a reliable source of lower cost energy and they can avoid the pain associated with higher gas prices and higher diesel prices.”http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-09/broken-hill-solar-farm-still-on-track-despite-investor-uncertai/5376866
Uncertainty over Renewable Energy Target puts large solar farm in doubt
First Solar reconsiders Australian investments amid ‘uncertainty’ over Renewable Energy Target, ABC News, By environment reporter Jake Sturmer The company building the southern hemisphere’s largest solar plant says it is reconsidering future investments in Australia because of uncertainty about the Government’s Renewable Energy Target.
Multinational solar panel maker First Solar is building a $450 million plant in the far west of New South Wales for energy provider AGL.
It would be enough to power 50,000 homes, the company said.
First Solar’s vice-president of business development, Jack Curtis, says a lot has changed in the eight months since the former federal government announced the project.
“Those projects … reached financial close in a different political and business environment which was almost a year ago now,” Mr Curtis said. “That’s obviously changed quite dramatically since the election. There’s now a much greater deal of uncertainty around future projects like this.”
Mr Curtis says this is partly due to the Coalition Government’s review of the Renewable Energy Target (RET), which currently aims to have 20 per cent of Australia’s electricity generated by clean energy sources by 2020……http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-08/solar-company-reconsiders-investment-in-australia/5373664
Current energy economics is unsustainable, as renewables rapidly fall in price
Arvizu: Why the current energy system is unsustainable REneweconomy By Giles Parkinson on 4 April 2014
The first point is on cost, as renewables become a cheaper option than coal or gas; the other is on environmental impacts, as the world finally absorbs the impact of dirty coal generation; and the third is the arrival of new disruptive (and mostly renewable) technologies, such as rooftop solar and storage. But the most stunning piece of evidence is this: the industry spends only 0.3 per cent of its phenomenal revenues (in the trillions of dollars) on R&D. And even that money is spent by new players looking to bring new technologies to the market.
In an interview with RenewEconomy on the sidelines of the 2XEP energy efficiency conference in Sydney this week, Arvizu says he knows of no other incumbent industry that has spent so little on securing its future and on innovation, and was relying so much on the models of the past.
“The energy sector has the highest level of conservatism and the lowest level of risk taking,” Arvizu says. Change, via disruptive technologies such as solar and storage and other renewables, along with smart devices, is now upon it. But it will be fighting hard to resist change.
“We need to change the business model. We need new infrastructure, and brick by brick we will dismantle the old system and make a new one,” he says……….
“The future is much more promising than a lot of people expect,” Arvizu says, adding that even he is surprised at the pace of technological change and cost reduction.
He dismisses the protests of people who say that renewables are too expensive – in particular those like Bjorn Lomborg who insist that more research should take place (ironic given the industry’s low R&D commitment so far). “That’s just kicking the can down the road,” Arvizu says.
“If we are just talking about incremental changes to the existing system, we will never fully utilise the potential.”
It is, he says, a scary prospect for the incumbent utilities, who have enjoyed decades – nearly a century – of uninterrupted growth and extraordinary market power. And they are protected by layers and layers or regulation.
“We created this monster,” Arvizu says. “You often hear the words, ‘let the market decide’, but this is such a disingenuous argument in such a highly regulated market.
“The classic supply and demand equations do not work …. because what we’ve allowed the incumbents to create a set of highly regulated markets where they have tremendous market share, and there has been an alliance between public policy markets and incumbents, where reliable power supply has been exchanged for a high return on investment.
“But now we have other options in the market place, and in order to break into that market, they need to mature and they need an ecosystem around them.”
The key to change, he says, will come in power for the consumers, and the key to that will come in storage.
“If we had storage that was cost effective – you would very quickly be able to encourage the utilities to get on to the program. Once you have got the opportunity to say, I don’t need your electrons any more, that is when consumers will have the (market) power.”………
he notes, it is important that the new model be integrated with the old, in other words, the best of distributed generation must be merged with the best bits of the old centralized model.
This will be difficult, considering the regulatory hurdles, but it is important. And in the same way he dismissed the idea of “energy independence” for a country (focusing more on energy security), he’s also not sure why individuals would want to do the same.
“I don’t think we need to go to 100 per cent renewables, although I think we can,” he says. “And I don’t know why you would want to pay to be autonomous (off grid). The extra cost that it entails … to be isolated as an act of bravado is absurd, it is an interconnected world.” http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/arvizu-why-the-current-energy-system-is-unsustainable-76176
Tony Abbott’s lack of leadership on Climate Change Has Been Noted
Changing climate: from debate to leadership, The Age Editorial 4 April 14, Tony Abbott’s response to this week’s international report on climate change – ”Australia is a land of droughts and flooding rains. Always has been, always will be” – is not the first time he has quoted Dorothea Mackellar. In January 2013, as opposition leader, Mr Abbott said this: ”I do make the general point that Australia is a land of droughts and flooding rains, and the ordinary business of government should include being able to cope with the sorts of natural disaster which we regularly experience in this country”.
The important distinction here is not so much what Mr Abbott said (an opinion that is essentially unchanged), but when. Early last year, and as leader of the alternative government, his view on climate change was hardly surprising and was, indeed, more contained – he was responding to a question about the possibility of restoring the flood levy in Queensland. But this week’s repetition is a different matter entirely. Tony Abbott is Prime Minister, and he was responding to a far more serious concern that goes beyond state and national borders.
The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, representing years of work by 309 leading global researchers, confirms that the effects of climate change are being felt across the world, and are likely to increase. The nub of the report is that these impacts are already being felt. To deal with them, therefore, requires strong commitment rather than prevarication. In other words, decisive leadership.
The Prime Minister, however, dogmatically prefers the past tense to the present indicative. He still indulges in sterile and pointless debate in the face of sustained and perhaps irreversible damage to our planet. In the process, Mr Abbott prevails against the judgment of science and the force of popular opinion. This is not true leadership: that happens when governments, sometimes taking risks for the greater good of community and country, look beyond ideological and political differences. True leadership, which emerges in times of cataclysmic disaster and times of war, should also be deployed in gauging and attempting to control the most critical environmental challenge of our time……. http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-age-editorial/changing-climate-from-debate-to-leadership-20140403-361lq.html
Lord Stern admonishes Australia – do more about Climate Change!
Unambitious Australia needs to do more to tackle climate change, Canberra Times, April 3, 2014 –
Australia plays an important role as a leading economy within the international community, and host of this year’s summit of the G20 countries.
How it tackles the threat of climate change is of global importance as developing countries look to rich countries to set an example because of their better technologies and history of high emissions of greenhouse gases.
Australia’s current policy settings and institutions hold out prospects for doing its fair share in a global effort that has to increase over time. Repeal of these policies would be a setback for the Australian and international effort.
I hope that Western Australians will be mindful of their contribution to a global effort when they choose between candidates in Saturday’s Senate election.
Other countries are making big efforts……..
Australia still has the highest emissions of greenhouse gases per person in the developed world, but the government has retained the weak commitment to reduce Australia’s annual emissions only by 5 per cent target by 2020 compared with 2000.
It wants these cuts to be achieved through the ‘Direct Action’ of giving subsidies to polluters to encourage them to reduce their emissions, rather than through requiring them to pay for their pollution.
This combination of an unambitious emissions reduction target with subsidies to polluters does not constitute a credible way of promoting the transition to a low-carbon economy.
The international community is now gearing up for new agreement on climate change to be signed in Paris in 2015, after all countries, including Australia, agreed in 2010 that global emissions of greenhouse gases need to be cut sharply by 2050 in order to avoid the huge risks that would be associated with a rise in global average temperature of more than 2 C.
Although many countries are cutting their emissions, there needs to be an acceleration of action to avoid breaching the 2 C threshold.
If the world heads towards warming of 4 C or more, as it risks on its current track, it would be deeply dangerous for Australia and every other nation that is vulnerable and exposed to the impacts of climate change.
What really matters now is the credibility and ambition of action to tackle climate change, and Australia seems to be showing neither.
Australia could and should do much more, while also ushering in a new era of clean, efficient and sustainable economic growth.
Professor Lord Nicholas Stern is I.G. Patel Professor of Economics and Government at London School of Economics and Political Science and President of the British Academy. http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/unambitious-australia-needs-to-do-more-to-tackle-climate-change-20140403-zqq7d.html
Why Australia lags the world on energy production
Australia’s lousy energy productivity: Why it lags the world, REneweconomy, By Giles Parkinson on 3 April 2014 We don’t usually begin lead stories with a table, but this one is compelling. It shows how, over the past 40 years, Australia has sacrificed its position as one of the most energy productive economies – and therefore one of the cheapest – to become one of the least efficient, and therefor one of the most costly. (see graph on the original of this article))
And it all came about because the country got lazy. Australia still has vast coal reserves, but the cost of delivery has soared to the point that consumer electricity prices have virtually doubled in the last five years. And now it is about to deal with a doubling, or even trebling, of gas prices.
This is clearly having an impact on Australia’s competitiveness, but the nation’s energy productivity hardly figures in any of the major economic reforms that are currently under consideration.
This is the major theme of a two-day conference in Sydney dubbed 2XEP, which stands for double energy productivity, a target that the energy efficiency industry says should be adopted in Australia (double the productivity by 2030), because all other major economies are doing the same thing.
Australia, though, has hopelessly inadequate rules and regulations on efficiency – be it for buildings, transport or electricity generation. Alan Pears, a professor from RMIT, noted that building regulations in Australia are at a point where they would not be legal in most other countries.
But Australia’s attitude to efficiency is long dated.
Robert Hill, a former environment minister in the Howard government and now at the US Studies Centre, made a few interesting points at the conference.
One was that his efforts to introduce stricter emissions targets on vehicles in Australia would destroy the Australian car industry. Now, the irony is, the country’s inability to produce energy fficiency vehicles was a likely contributor to downfall of the industry. The US car industry, meanwhile, is booming, particularly around low emission vehicles from the big 3 carmakers, and Tesla.
(He noted that he was also responsible for helping to introduce the first renewable energy target. He said that he was told at the time that even a 1.5 per cent renewable target would “destroy” the Australian economy. Now, he noted, the target was for a minimum 20 per cent and his home state was over 30 per cent. Still, the alarmism continues)……….
As part of its roadmap, the alliance to save energy proposes:
Changes to National Electricity Rules to support utilities undertaking Demand Management instead of new infrastructure investment
– A national investment incentive scheme for business in all sectors to improve energy productivity, including facilitating greater private sector finance.
– Streamlining, harmonising and extending existing energy efficiency schemes such as the NSW Energy Efficiency Scheme and the Victorian Energy Efficiency Target.
– Minimum fuel economy standards for passenger and light freight vehicles, consistent with other developed nations.
– Greater development and use of public transport and urban planning to reduce traffic congestion, including through innovative financing and road charging.
All of which shouldn’t be, but could be, a major challenge for the government under its current policy directions. The Direct Action policy is likely to absorb the various state based energy efficiency targets, raising questions about whether any such savings would be “additional” to what would have happened.
And it seems the Abbott government is determined to focus its infrastructure on the building of yet more roads – even to the point of pushing state governments to sell energy infrastructure to provide the funds for more tarmac. http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/australias-lousy-energy-productivity-why-it-lags-the-world-52780
Will Liberal MP Rowan Ramsay stand up for Port Augusta and clean energy?
Repower Port Augusta urges MP support for CEFC ABC A renewable energy group in Port Augusta is calling on local federal MP Rowan Ramsay to stand up to his Coalition colleagues against scrapping the clean energy fund.
Repower Port Augusta has been campaigning for the Alinta coal-fired power station to be transformed into a solar thermal plant. Repower’s Lisa Lumsden says the Government’s plans to scrap the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) could convince Alinta that the project is not viable.
Alinta is doing a feasibility study on the proposal and Ms Lumsden says if it is viable, the clean energy fund will be crucial to its realisation. “At this point in time, we haven’t got a deal for solar thermal from the CEFC,” she said. “The feasibility study isn’t due to be finished until another 18 months.” “It will require some additional funding because it’s a first build … it’s a first build for the nation.”……..
A bill to abolish the CEFC will return to the Senate in coming months, after being rejected once before. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-02/repower-port-augusta-urges-mp-support-for-cefc/53618702
Opposition to Wallarah Two coal mine across the political divide
Community rallies outside Wallarah public hearing ABC Mary-Louise Vince Wed 2 Apr 2014 A public hearing has been told the risk to the central coast water catchment far outweighs the benefit of an underground coal mine proposed for the area………
The Mayor of Wyong, Doug Eaton told the Commission the risk to the region’s water catchment far outweighs any employment benefits from the mine.The potential impact on the region’s water supplies remains the key concern about the project, which is backed largely by the Korean Government.
President of the Liberal Party’s Gosford branch and former Gosford Mayor Malcolm Brooks said he was against the mine. Mr Brooks said little had changed since the mine’s original development application, which was rejected by the Labor Government in 2011.”Nothing has changed except a new application, a new government and an ICAC inquiry,” he said.
Outside the meeting Labor’s Environment spokesman, Luke Foley says the Premier has betrayed central coast residents by failing to stop the mine project. Mr Foley told the crowd legislation is needed to stop the mine going ahead.
The Wallarah Two mine has become a political headache for the O’Farrell Government……….
ICAC inquiry still to be held
Meanwhile, an Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry is yet to to be held into Wallarah’s major players, including Liberal party fundraiser and lobbyist Nick di Girolamo, and the former Resources Minister and Central Coast MP, Chris Hartcher.
Labor and the Greens want the the project halted until that investigation is complete…….
An economist from the Australia Institute, Rod Campbell said the mine’s economic value had been overstated and its economic benefits were based on discredited modelling.
The Darkinjung Aboriginal Land Council declared the the entire mining proposal invalid.
Darkinjung’s CEO, Sean Gordon said he would never approve access to build a rail spur across Land Council land and legal action is underway on the issue………http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-02/mine-pac/5362728
Australian govt planning a hatchet job on renewable energy
RET Review Threatens Massive South Australian Wind Farm http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=4246 2 April 14, South Australia’s largest wind farm project has been threatened by the Federal Government’s Renewable Energy Target review says the developer.
In February this year, the green light was given for the 197-turbine 600MW Ceres wind farmdevelopment. The facility is expected to generate $1.5 billion in economic benefits and provide enough power to supply 225,000 homes or equivalent to 14 per cent of South Australia’s electricity demand.
Developer Senvion Australia wants to start construction early next year and have the facility operational by the end of 2016, but says the RET review is creating difficulties in gaining investor confidence.
“The RET review has already seen investment stall right across Australia because of the continuing uncertainty,” said Senvion Australia managing directorChris Judd. “This is frustrating for our business, as we see enormous opportunity here.”
Last month, Spanish wind power firm Acciona placed three projects in Victoria with a collective value of $750 million on hold due to uncertainty over the future of the RET.
The battle to save the RET has been one of hearts and minds; an effort made more difficult by the stream of misinformation about the cost of the Renewable Energy Target.
For what it delivers, Australia’s Renewable Energy Target provides good valueand overall only represents 3.5% – 5% of an average power bill; an amount that will further decrease in the years ahead should the RET be left unaltered.
The RET has generated more than $18.5 billion in investment and created more than 30,000 jobs so far. If it is left unchanged, approximately 30,000 more jobs will be created and another ~$18.7 billion in investment will occur.
However, given the makeup of the RET review panel, there are fears of a “hatchet job” in progress and the RET will be substantially changed or abolished altogether.
Australia among the top 10 solar energy countries in 2013
Australia A Global Top 10 Solar Performer In 2013 http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=4245 2 April 14, A new report from the International Energy Agency shows Australia among the top 10 countries for solar installations and total installed capacity in 2013.
According to the IEA PVP’s Snapshot of Global PV 1992-2013, at least 36.9 GW of PV systems were installed and connected to the grid in the world last year. With some installations not yet reported, the final number for the 2013 PV market could be above 38 GW.
Top 10 Countries for Installations (2013/MW)
China – 11.3
Japan – 6.9
USA – 4.8
Germany – 3.3
Italy – 1.5
India – 1.1
Romania – 1.1
Greece – 1
UK – 1
Australia – 0.9
Top 10 countries for total installed capacity (2013/MW)
Germany – 35.5
China – 18.3
Italy – 17.6
Japan – 13.6
USA 12
Spain – 5.6
France – 4.6
Australia – 3.3
Belgium – 3
UK – 2.9
Last year, Asia led the world in terms of solar deployment for the first time in a decade.
Annual PV contribution to electricity demand has passed the 1% mark in 15 countries, including Australia.
“PV technology today has become a major actor in the electricity sector in several countries. Globally, at least 160 TWh, or 160 billion kWh will be produced in 2014 by PV systems installed and commissioned until January 2014,” states the report (PDF).
“This represents about 0.85% of the electricity demand of the planet, though some countries have reached rapidly significant percentages.”
Stand-out performers in this regard are Germany, Italy and Greece; which have now enough PV capacity to produce 6.2%, 7.8% and 5.8% respectively of their annual electricity demand.
The IEA Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme (PVPS) has 29 member countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, EPIA, European Union, France, Germany, International Copper Alliance, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, SEIA, SEPA, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom and the USA.
1 This month
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/235274195556
20 May – Webinar – The dangerous world of AUKUS, US, military occupation and suppression of dissent
National Webinar, 20th May, 2026, 6.30pm AEST. Confronting laws restricting/suppressing protest speech and action
Speakers: Former Sen. Rex Patrick, Lawyer Nick Hanna ,Arthur Rorris ,Jorgen Doyle, Sen David Shoebbridge,
Facilitator Kelley Tranter.
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
Antinuclear 