A new report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance suggests that scrapping or winding back Australia’s Renewable Energy Target would simply result in increased utility bills, and a multi-billion dollar windfall […]
Category: Solar Panel & Renewable Energy Policies
Solar Choice articles about solar pv, solar power policy and renewable energy policy. Solar Choice is Australia’s solar power installation brokering and solar quote comparison service. Contact Solar Choice for a free comparison of solar power quotes.
Midsummer achieves record 16.2% production efficiency for CIGS on stainless steel
Stainless steel is not something one typically associates with solar cells, but Swedish solar equipment manufacturer, Midsummer, is hoping to change that soon. Midsummer, a thin film equipment supplier, recently […]
Government attacks Australian solar SMEs
The Murdoch Press are clearly well aligned with our Government’s transparent desire to destroy the renewable energy industry in Australia. Spouting the alarmist headline “Solar panels are time bombs”, the […]
AGL’s submission to RET review urges incentive reductions
Leading Australian utility AGL Energy has been accused of joining the electricity sector “dark side” after it called for the small-scale component of the Renewable Energy Target, currently under review […]
Murdoch Uni develops algorithm to predict solar output in SW Australia
Researchers at Murdoch University have developed a web-based simulator to calculate the hourly power output of photovoltaic and concentrated solar thermal (CST) power systems for south-west Australia that accounts for […]
Solar Choice releases pricing data for commercial-scale solar PV systems (10kW-100kW)
Click here to see latest commercial solar prices On the back of the success of its monthly Solar PV Price Index articles, which focus mainly on residential solar PV systems, […]
Sunny Australia’s solar uptake lags behind dreary UK’s
Queensland continues to remain the hot-spot for rooftop solar installations in Australia, accounting for much of the installs in the month of March, and showing an increase as falls were […]
Solar PV Price Index – May 2014
1.5kW and 2kW solar PV system prices continue to rise from April to May while 3kW-5kW remain steady and 10kW system prices have fallen. This month’s article includes for the […]
What would a solar system cost without the Renewable Energy Target?
“Is the Renewable Energy Target going to survive this review in reasonably good shape?” There are only so many times you can shake the Magic 8 Ball to try to […]
Falling market shares predicted for amorphous silicon PV technology
Amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin-film market share is expected to fall in the near term according to a recent report by EnergyTrend. The prediction is based on a recent string of […]
Solar-powered light sculpture to light up Sydney Harbour at Vivid Festival
Best known for its work helping Indian slum-dwellers replace kerosene lamps with solar lights, Pollinate Energy‘s latest solar lighting project has a slightly less practical purpose. The Australian founded not-for-profit […]
Australia’s small-scale solar plants’ contribution now equivalent to 1GW coal plant: Clean Energy Regulator
A new report by Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator has revealed that the nation’s total combined rooftop PV and solar hot water systems can generate enough renewable energy to displace the […]
EU project promises commercial organic solar cells
A new European Commission-funded research project may bring organic solar cells closer to commercialisation. Germany’s Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) recently announced the creation of the “MatHero” project supported by […]
Solar Council fears the RET review could end incentives for small-scale solar
The Australian Solar Council fears that the entire government rebate for small scale rooftop systems could be removed by the Abbott government’s renewable energy scheme review. John Grimes, the chief […]
Expose into Australian power prices
Australia’s ABC radio recently conducted a detailed research story into who is really to blame for the rising price of power in Australia. The background for the story is the […]
New solar export rates coming for New South Wales
Although New South Wales historically had the most generous Feed In Tariffs in Australia ($0.60c gross), those days are long behind us. For the last few years however, solar customers […]
Recommended feed-in tariff rates for NSW to fall again
Feed-in tariffs for rooftop solar in New South Wales have been slashed again, with the state’s pricing regulator recommending a retailer contribution of just 5.3c/kWh for solar energy exported back […]
AEMC to introduce new, streamlined processes for connecting solar to the grid
Australia’s national energy regulator has given the nod to electricity market reforms that will make it cheaper, easier and faster for households and business to invest in and install clean […]
Outlook of China’s solar market
Continued uncertainty around China’s solar policy means the achievement of its 2014 solar target of 14GW “could be challenging,” according to a new report from Deutsche Bank. The report, published on […]
ICCP reports: scale up renewable energy for decarbonisation
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has said that renewable energy sources such as wind and solar must lie at the core of a massive decarbonisation of the world’s […]
Solar solution for apartment owners
Australia has one of the highest per capita and rooftop penetration rates of solar power in the world. Our position at the top of the rankings is largely because we […]
Solar’s rise to dominance closer than we think
The use of solar power is increasing at a prodigious rate around the world and Australia is no exception. In fact solar’s growth may be have already reached an unforeseen […]
Rules for filing a development application for a solar PV system in NSW
Anyone planning on going solar in NSW will need to file certain paperwork to get their system connected to the electricity grid. The exact requirements for getting grid-connected will vary […]
Victoria Greens launch campaign to stand up for rooftop solar owners
Victoria’s Green Party has announced a campaign to support the rights state’s current and would-be solar-powered households, which already number over 207,000. If just one in 10 solar system owners […]
Analysis: WA moving to 100% renewables by 2029 cheaper than status quo
The WA Greens have published a new analysis that suggests that the state could move to 100 per cent renewables by 2029 with a cheaper outcome than business as usual. […]
Solar PV system prices for April 2014
Average 1.5kW solar system prices appear to have plateaued between March and April after steadily rising over the course of the last 8 months or so, while prices for 2kW […]
Rooftop solar: Queensland’s 6th largest power plant
The combined capacity of rooftop solar arrays in south-east Queensland, the area managed by the energy distributor Energex, has now surpassed 800MW, making it the sixth biggest generator in the […]
Solar Council’s ‘Save Solar’ campaign goes full bore in WA
The Australian Solar Council‘s campaign to keep the country’s Renewable Energy Target (RET) and its incentives for small-scale solar intact is now in full swing in Western Australia, with a […]
Net metering for solar scores another win in Vermont, faces battles elsewhere
American solar advocacy group The Alliance for Solar Choice (TASC) celebrates yet another victory for ‘net metering’ policy in the United States, this time in Vermont. The small, northeastern state’s […]
Are Australian solar homes getting a fair deal? QLD & NSW vs Minnesota
Australian solar households are beginning to ask themselves if they are getting a good deal for the excess solar electricity that they export back to the grid during day time […]
Western Sydney solar power: Why get a system?
Sydney is home to some of the lowest solar power system prices in all of Australia. This article takes a look at why solar power is a good investment for […]
