Australian State And Federal Solar Power Incentives Case Study

The Australian Government has a 20 percent renewable energy target - see http://www.climatechange.gov.au/government/initiatives/renewable-target.aspx. The target is set st be reached by 2020 which many thought was ambitious. In fact - States like S.A. have reached 22 percent already, mainly due to the rebates available for solar power installation.

In Queensland the State Government has a solar rebate that pays home owners 44 cents per KWH for excess solar electricity fed back onto the Queensland energy grid - this represents a 220 percent premium to the standard electricity rates paid, currently 20 cents per KWH. In Brisbane, alone there have been 32,ooo solar power installations since January 2012. The solar power Brisbane website reports that the new Queensland Government could reduce this solar rebate. Whether the solar panel industry in Brisbane would survive such a cut remains to be seen. The solar industry in Brisbane employs over 12,000 people directly and possibly over 120,000 indirectly, supplying the solar panels, solar inverters,railing systems for the mounting of the solar panels etc. The electricians installing solar panels in Brisbane must be Clean Energy Council (C.E.C) approved and it is estimated that over 11oo have under gone the training to gain the C.E.C. accreditation.

Size of Solar P.V. Installations in Homes In Brisbane:

A breakdown of SOLAR PANEL INSTALLATIONS IN BRISBANE in 2012, by KW rating is as follows:

Solar System Size (Brisbane Australia, 2012) Percentage of Installations

1.5KW 45

2KW 15

3KW 20

5KW 12

Other 8

(Source: Solar Panels Brisbane )

As you can see, the smaller solar power systems predominate in Brisbane - mainly 1.5KW. However it is also interesting to note that 32 percent are greater or equal to 3 KW. The price of solar panel systems in Queensland has dropped as a direct result of Government solar bonus schemes and feed in tariff rates. The cost per watt of solar power installation has dropped at a rate of 15 percent per year over the last seven years.

Solar Power Brisbane Prices - As an example, in 2008, a 1.5KW system could cost, in terms of 'out of pocket' around 5000, in April 2012 there are Brisbane solar power companies offering systems for less than 1000 - an 80 percent drop in price! We do not think this trend is sustainable - when Governemnt incentives for solar power reduce, we expect to see prices increase again.

This downward trend in Australian P.V. pricing has happened in many countries - well before Australia. The following chart demonstrates Japanese Solar Power Installation prices up to 2002. The trend in solar pricing is virtually identical to what is happening in The Australian solar power market since 2009.

solar panels pricing up to 2002