In the decade between 2010 and 2020, Australian homeowners are expected to invest more than $20 billion in rooftop solar installations. Some private forecasts suggest it could be as much as double that. But should these homeowners be limited to a rate of return that is substantially less than that of big utilities investing in fossil fuels or new transmission lines?
Solar PV costs will fall another 30 per cent in 2012, with some developers able to write offtake agreements of less than 10c/kWh. But while solar becomes competitive with conventional power, it is still a dangerous place for investors. Plus: news from Canadian Solar, solar auctions in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and Japan’s solar surge.
A series of graphs that show how wind, solar and other renewables will push coal and gas out of the Australian energy market.
Global banking and asset management group Investec plans 50MW solar PV power plant near Kalgoorlie, as local miners look to solar to offset high cost of gas and diesel. According to BNEF, solar PV is already cheaper than new build coal in Western Australia.
As the Baillieu government brought down the curtain on the last major feed in tariff, solar companies reported they were awash in red ink. The industry, which now employs 15,000 people, is craving stability, and fair value for energy that householders produce, and export to the grid. They may not get it.
Despite its scant 2.5GW of installed PV capacity, Australia is going toe to toe with Germany on another solar metric: PV system pricing.
Indonesia set to launch two-month tender for at least 150MW of new solar PV plants; planning new solar FiT of up to $0.25/kWh.
A changing of the guard in top solar countries – and another beckons as Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America set ambitious targets.
Analysts from UBS say energy markets are facing a revolution caused by the success of unsubsidised solar. They say solar costs have fallen so far, it was a no-brainer for households to install rooftop solar, turning customers into competitors for utilities. The implications for coal-fired generators could be devastating.
Campbell Newman closes down solar incentives in the Sunshine State, which had accounted for nearly half of Australian rooftop installations in recent months. Nearly half of the 11,000 solar jobs in the state are now considered at risk. Expect a last minute rush for installations – but will new financing plans then take up the slack?
The global market for solar PV is expected to treble by 2015, producing panels at less than half the current cost. That will be the signal for the major electronics giants to enter the market. Plus: Martin Ferguson says rooftop solar killing gas, not coal.
China lifts its 2015 solar PV target again, California signs on for first large solar thermal with storage plant, Yingli reports rebound in margins, solar PV funding goes mainstream.
More on why UBS says solar PV is becoming a “no-brainer” for households in some European countries, and why battery storage will be the second major game changer. We look deeper at the numbers, and what this means for utilities – just as more fossil fuel plant closures were foreshadowed in Germany because of the rise in solar.
QCA says compulsory time-of-use pricing for solar households expensive, ineffective, unfair and maybe illegal, but good for networks. Hooray!
The Grattan Institute’s study into Australia’s energy future canvasses seven technologies that could help deliver an 80 per cent reduction in emissions by 2050 – wind, solar PV, solar thermal, geothermal, CCS, nuclear and bio-energy. And then there is the grid, and it’s need to be smart and play fair, and not just favour the incumbent coal and gas plants.
Yingli says cost of solar modules fell another 25% in 2012, and suggests that will continue in 2013.
The founder of UNSW’s School of Photovoltaic & Renewable Energy has driven a generation of solar R&D and commercialisation.
Solar PV prices have been plunging worldwide, but there is almost universal agreement 2013 will be a corrective year. Get the first aid kits ready.
