Solar industry launches Solar Facts site to counter renewable myths

A new source of information has been launched by the REC Agents Association (RAA), which aims to highlight the facts surrounding solar – as the renewable energy industry ramps up its campaign to stop the Abbott government cutting back on renewable energy targets.

Ric Brazzale, the president of RAA, which is a national industry body for companies that create and trade in renewable energy certificates,  said “a number of spurious claims have been made about the solar industry, the Renewable Energy Target and the cost and contribution of solar, and it’s time to correct the record”.

He said the Solar Facts information portal would be a valuable source of information for policy makers, journalists, solar industry professionals and “anyone passionate about solar wanting access to facts”.

“RAA’s one-stop-shop for solar data will be regularly updated and expanded to bust solar myths and keep interested parties factually updated about solar in Australia.”

“Solar is an important part of mainstream Australian life,” said Fiona O’Hehir, Vice-President of RAA.

“More than 2 million solar installations have been supported by the Renewable Energy Target. Almost 25 per cent of the 8.4 million occupied private dwellings in Australia have a solar system.”

The new site has highlighted some interesting statistics about solar in Australia – including the fact that we invested more than $1.7 billion in solar PV in 2013 and currently more than 17,700 Australians are employed by the industry.

RAA also found in a recent analysis that there is no net cost to customers for the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme.

It noted that the Renewable Energy Target provided downward pressure on wholesale electricity prices and as a result wholesale prices are considerably lower than would otherwise be the case.

Currently mortgage belt and regional areas are the largest adopters of solar and solar PV installed capacity amounts to nearly 6% of Australia’s generation and 2.2% of total electricity.

Solar Facts can be found at http://www.recagents.asn.au/solar-facts/