In a previous article (August) Solar Choice highlighted several key conferences that were focusing on renewable energy, and Solar Energy in particular. Improving technology and policy designed to deploy the hardware necessary to allow individuals to contribute to the energy revolution taking place has certainly grabbed the headlines like never before this year.
Solar Choice attended the recent All Energy conference and Exhibition in Melbourne (http://www.all-energy.com.au) and after an extremely busy October, especially in NSW, we thought we would share a few thoughts and highlights.
All-Energy Australia is the sister show to All-Energy UK, Europe’s largest all-renewables event which has now been running for 10 years.
Over 2 full days, there were 30 sessions and over 90 speakers from Industry and Government covering all the important issues in the clean and renewable energy industry in Australia today. Topics covered the whole spectrum of Energy with the calibre of speakers extremely high
There was also an exhibition running alongside the conference with 130 companies and organisations present. The majority were Australian, however there was a good overseas contingent, many introducing new technology into our market for the first time. They obviously see Australia as an attractive honey-pot that is worth investing in.
And it is!
Australia has so much potential to leap far ahead in terms of energy, if only the energy stars (tsars?) will align.
One thing that shone through was the highly mature and collaborative nature of the industry. The panel sessions, on topics such as Wind, Clean Coal, Electric Vehicles, Power Transmission, Bio-energy solutions to name a few, had a good mix of Government officials and representatives, Academics, Finance and Banking, and Company Executives sharing present (reality) and projected plans.
A common thread was the imperative to keep on improving policy and bureaucratic processes to allow the advancing technology and desire by business and the general population to invest in our energy future and play their part. Be it an interim Carbon Tax or ideally an ETS, something has to be enacted soon to allow Clean Energy and the over arching goal of atmospheric and oceanic CO2 reductions, to step up the next level.
In terms of Solar PV, there were three very good mini-presentations
¢ ACT’s Electricity Feed-in Tariff scheme; Simon Corbell, Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Water and ACT Minister for Energy
www.solarcapital.act.gov.au for more information
¢ Project Phases for large scale solar installations http://www.conergy.de/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-2115/2941_read-9540/ for recent large installations by presenters company in Germany.
¢ Design considerations for large scale solar PV was also covered.
The next All Energy conference and exhibition will be held in Melbourne at the MCEC, 12th and 13th October 2011.
Sam Bradley
Installer Network Manager, Solar Choice Pty Ltd
