The NSW Govt is still yet to announce whether it will be instigating a gross or net feed-in reward scheme, or tariff, for NSW homeowners.
Submissions to the NSW Govt on the nature and scope of the tariff closed on 12 January 2009.
The solar industry hopes that NSW will follow the lead of both ACT, and more recently, WA, by introducing a gross feed in tariff, where household consumers are financially rewarded at a premium rate of 60c kwH (approx 4 times the market rate of electricity) for all the energy their solar panels produce, not just on a surplus basis.
The Clean Energy Council’s submission to the NSW Govt can be read at www.cleanenergycouncil.org.au/info.
The submission reached the following conclusions:
“1. Tariff Rate: The rate should be set with due consideration of other federal Government
incentives and provide a 10 year payback period. The rate should reduce over time to
encourage industry cost improvements.
“2. Energy Production: The tariff should be base on gross production to provide the provide
the investor certainty and recognising the true economic value of the energy generated.
“3. Payment: The additional costs of the tariff should be collected through network charges.
The regulator would need to allow these additional costs to be collected as a levy spread
across the whole consumer base. The financial relationship with the solar PV owner
would, however, be through the regulator.
“4. Duration: The tariff for each site should run for 15 years, and the whole program should
be legislated to run for 30 years.
“5. Eligibility: To ensure the maximum opportunity for the industry to expand to reach the
critical mass to force costs down, the policy needs to applicable for larger commercial and
industrial sites as well as domestic sites.
“6. Technology: While the majority of installations will be solar PV, to drive the uptake of
other embedded generation, tariffs should be set for a range of technologies including
micro-wind, micro-hydro and small biomass generation. The rate for each tariff may be
set at a different level.”
Solar Choice will continue to keep you posted on any developments.
- The German experience – 9yrs of solar energy gross FiT has had only 0.43% impact on household electricity prices - 1 November, 2010
- NSW solar bonus scheme round up, the day after solar chaos - 28 October, 2010
- Submissions for review of NSW Gross Feed In Tariff to be lodged by 30 Sept 2010 - 24 August, 2010
Hopefully NSW will follow suit to WA and ACT with a gross feed in tariff … even better, the Rudd and Garrett roadshow should introduce it nationally!