Search Results for: nsw

Solar will be the world’s most popular power source by 2050

November 10, 2014 2018-03-19T13:43:44 by 13 Comments
big red hand pointing down

Down, down, solar panel prices are going down!

When someone of the stature of Martin Green says the cost of solar PV technology will halve again by the next decade, you sit up and take notice. Even more so when he says solar will be the world’s most popular energy source by 2050.

For the University of New South Wales’ Prof. Martin Green is considered one of the world’s leading PV researchers. His department’s technological breakthroughs in silicon cell efficiency have not only given us the solar panels we know today but also put Australian PV research at the centre of world PV technology.

“The costs of solar will halve again by 2025 is my prediction,” he told a conference in Sydney on Wednesday. “We are at 60 cents per watt manufacturing now but we will get down to 30 cents per watt some time before 2025.”

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Economics Of Solar, Solar Panels Tagged With: , , , ,

Are micro inverters & battery backup compatible?

November 5, 2014 2024-06-04T14:56:44 by 57 Comments
3 microinverters and 2 batteries

Can you combine micro inverters with batteries? Yes you can!

Can you use a micro inverter off grid? Or even for grid connect with batteries?

With the growth in the use of micro inverters, I’m starting to get more and more emails asking: can micro inverters be used in off grid (or hybrid) solar power systems? [Read more…]

Filed Under: Battery Storage, Solar Inverters Tagged With: , , , ,

Nine in ten look to solar to beat rising electricity bills: report

October 22, 2014 2017-10-25T09:47:30 by 6 Comments
rising bills

Rising electricity costs are driving more people to consider solar.

An Ernst and Young utilities survey report released this week has highlighted the battle ordinary Australians are having with their rising electricity bills. The study also found over 90 percent of those surveyed would like to switch to solar power. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Economics Of Solar Tagged With: ,

New community owned energy retailer, Northern Rivers Energy, impresses with vision

October 9, 2014 2017-10-25T09:59:41 by 3 Comments
community solar

Sick of AGL, Origin and their greedy bedfellows? Then start your own retailer!

Fans of community energy got a boost this week with news of plans to launch the country’s first community owned energy retailer. Based in the Northern Rivers region of NSW, a consortium of citizens under the name of Northern Rivers Energy (NRE) has “…won a $54,000 grant to develop a business plan and conduct a feasibility study,” according to RenewEconomy’s Giles Parkinson.

The plan shows again how community-based renewable energy such as solar power can be accessed and owned by the community. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Economics Of Solar Tagged With: ,

Is Abbott about to axe the Solar Rebate (and push solar prices through the roof) ?

August 18, 2014 2014-12-21T21:36:36 by 84 Comments
tony abbott and renewables

What does Abbott have in store for solar?

Well, I woke up this morning to a beautiful spring day. Only to see an inbox full of emails telling me that, according to the Australian Financial Review, Tony Abbott has already decided to scrap the Renewable Energy Target (RET) no matter what his review panel advises.

Bummer!

Let’s see what the rest of the papers have to say on the matter. Well, the most recent article I can find, published at 9am, is telling me that the government maintains it has absolutely no intention of scrapping the RET.

Hmmmmm. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Policy Tagged With:

Over 20,000 solar workers expected by 2018 despite Abbott’s efforts

August 11, 2014 2017-10-25T10:01:27 by 23 Comments
panels going on straw house

Hot water panels for SQHQ, proudly installed by some of Australia’s 13,000 solar workers.

Jobs in the Australian solar industry is a topic that doesn’t excite the pro-fossil fuel press and shriekback radio all that much. Instead the headlines and radio waves over renewables are dominated by imagined consequences of the carbon tax and the repetition of outright lies about the consequences of the Renewable Energy Target (RET).

Witness the recent pressure brought to bear as pro-fossil fuel lobbyists attempt to sway the stacked review board with outright mistruths on the benefit of the Renewable Energy Target. Truth has definitely been the first casualty as the war on renewables enters its next, more destructive phase.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Economics Of Solar Tagged With:

The renewable energy debate we had to have

July 14, 2014 2017-10-25T10:02:33 by 4 Comments
solar debate

Tony Abbott and Clive Palmer. Mass Debaters?

For me, the words that best summed up a remarkable week for renewable energy came from SolarQuotes Facebook reader Anthony Fogarty. A veteran of the solar industry, Anthony made the point that the current debate raging in the Australian Senate has seen clean energy being discussed in the mainstream like never before. The unexpected (if flaky) support for green energy by unlikely characters in the Palmer United Party and Ricky Muir — the motoring enthusiast turned senator — has seen the focus put squarely on our clean energy future. Are we now seeing the renewable energy debate we had to have? More importantly, where to from here? [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Policy Tagged With: , ,

Tindo Solar’s Support For An Anti-Dumping Investigation Is Bad For The Australian Solar Industry And The Environment

June 11, 2014 2017-07-13T14:49:16 by 16 Comments

tindo-anti-dumping

 

Today I’d like to welcome a new contributor to the SolarQuotes blog – Ronald Brakels. Ronald is technically minded and has a lot of passion for the Australian renewable energy industry, and is not afraid to put his opinion forth. I’m not always going agree with every opinion Ronald holds – but I always enjoy how he articulates those opinions. I think you will too. Over to you Ronald:

—

Tindo Solar is Australia’s only solar panel manufacturer and its Adelaide facility employs a total of 25 people. They produce high quality solar panels specially designed for the harsh Australian environment. Finn tells me he has 24 of them on his roof and they are working great. They are panels that I highly recommend.

Or at least, I used to be able to recommend them. I’m not sure I can do that with a clear conscience any more. Why? Because Tindo Solar has embarked on a course of action that I believe may well harm both Australia’s solar industry and the world’s environment. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Policy Tagged With: ,

ARENA’s existence hangs by a thread

May 20, 2014 2017-10-25T10:03:54 by 5 Comments
wind farm and solar panels and a thread being cut

Large scale renewables hanging by a thread thanks to Joe Hockey’s cuts.

Well we knew it was going to be a horror budget didn’t we readers? At least you couldn’t accuse the Abbott administration of not warning us. For weeks we had the drumbeat of fear. The chant that the so-called “age of entitlements” was at an end (except for certain vested interests it seems). The latest “Sloppy” Joe updates leaked to the Murdoch press and (of course) the draconian views of the Audit Commission. So we knew that the story for renewable energy Australia would be bad in the 2014 budget, the question was….how bad?

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Policy Tagged With: , , ,

Who gets the blame for energy poverty in Australia?

May 5, 2014 2017-10-25T10:04:11 by 15 Comments
wind turbine

87% of electricity price rises are nothing to do with renewables. But we still get the blame. Funny that.

Energy poverty in Australia is defined as when more than 10 percent of your household disposable income is spent on energy. It’s a newish problem in our country but one, due to rapidly escalating electricity prices, that we will unfortunately hear a great deal more about in coming years. With the skyrocketing electricity prices that have kicked in around the country, the question (from the point of view of the big energy companies and their politician friends) is not so much “Have we got a massive problem with energy poverty in this country?” as “Who the f!@# can we blame?” [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Policy Tagged With: , , ,
Get the latest solar, battery and EV charger news straight to your inbox every Tuesday