Search Results for: tasmania

Standard Tariffs Vs Time Of Use Pricing. Which Goes Best With Solar?

July 8, 2016 2021-08-09T15:46:56 by 25 Comments
time of use meter

What will give you the lowest bill, a standard or time of use tariff? What if you add solar? What about batteries?

Australians pay for grid electricity in two ways.  The most common way is a standard tariff. But you can also choose a time-of-use tariff.

What is a standard tariff?

This is where you pay a fixed rate for each kilowatt-hour used, plus a hefty supply charge.  Australians have been paying for electricity this way since the the electricity meter, invented in 1888, was developed into the ‘spinning dial’ type in 1914. So Australians have been using standard tariffs for over  a century. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Electricity Prices Tagged With: , ,

Will the states call the shots in solar power policy?

March 31, 2014 2017-10-25T10:05:21 by 2 Comments

the states of Australia

The sweep of Coalition victories throughout the land has been abated with the narrow victory of the incumbent Weatherill government in South Australia but what does this mean for solar power policy?

As the always perceptive Giles Parkinson points out in his regular column for RenewEconomy, there is now some push back from state politicians over solar energy policy throughout the country. This (perhaps) as they understand (a) that the rest of the world is already moving towards a renewable future and (b) most importantly, ordinary Aussies have voted with their rooftops for a solar power policy.

“.. the return of the Jay Weatherill Labor government in Adelaide, the election of Will Hodgman in Tasmania, and the ambition of the ACT Labor government means that there are some counters to the apparently ideologically driven opposition to renewables in the federal government,” said Mr Parkinson. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Policy Tagged With: ,

Bushfires, bloody hot weather and a brave new world

January 15, 2013 2024-07-02T15:08:07 by Leave a Comment
bushfires in Tasmania

Bushfires in Tassie – photo: flickr/ToniFish

As I sit here writing this week’s rant, we are (it seems) in the middle of one of the worst heatwaves ever to strike the continent. Characterised by indecently high temperatures, bushfires and breathless “on the spot” news reporters, the harsh weather is crossing the land from west to east, north to south. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Policy Tagged With: ,

What Should You Buy First? Solar Hot Water or Solar PV?

September 21, 2012 2013-08-05T14:47:28 by 4 Comments

Solar Hot Water is fast becoming the poor cousin of Solar PV (AKA Solar Electricity). Consumers just seem to prefer solar PV to solar hot water these days. In fact solar hot water has gone from almost zero to 1,000,000 roofs in about 30 years, whereas PV has gone from almost zero to 1,000,000 roofs in less than 6 years. There is now more PV than Solar HW out there! Unbelievable.

It doesn’t help that retailers prefer to sell PV over hot water – for a whole bunch of reasons that I’ll go into in a future blog post.

Here’s a video where I answer the question posed in the title: Should you buy Solar Hot Water or PV first?, But first I answer a much more fundamental question that creates an enormous amount of confusion out there:

And here’t the transcript for the video-phobes amongst you: [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Hot Water Tagged With:

Tassie comes in from the cold

October 28, 2011 2017-10-25T10:34:15 by 1 Comment

Vast solar arrays in the middle of our hot baking deserts or mainland cities awash with solar panels are generally considered the most efficient way to soak up the abundant sun for energy in our country. In terms of suitability for solar farms in this wide, brown land of ours, the mind definitely points to swelteringly hot parts of the mainland, rather than the cool, fresh, green island of Tasmania.

Not so according to a recent study by the American Chemical Society journal Environmental Science & Technology which says the cooler regions of the world are, contrary to general belief, an excellent area to generate massive amounts of solar energy. The report says that cool climates, particularly those at a higher altitude, have massive potential to generate solar-powered electricity.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Panels Tagged With: ,

Victorian Feed In Tariff is a Joke

May 14, 2009 2017-05-03T14:14:24 by 2 Comments

The Victorian parliament is set to vote in the new feed-in tariff laws as early as Wednesday. The proposition of this legislation has angered a great deal of green campaigners and supporters of renewable energy.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Policy Tagged With: , ,
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