WA’s fledging solar energy industry fears it could collapse following the Federal Government’s surprise Budget decision to restrict an $8000 rebate for installation of solar roof panels to households earning less than $100,000 a year. Read all.There is a lot of commotion around this issue and I wonder why they've decided to restrict the rebate as the price of solar power is still pretty high and the first people who are able to buy these are the more fortunate. Restricting the rebate lowers the market drastically... as they say in the article; about 70% of the customers are over the 100.000 bracket... and they are cancelling orders fast!
Anyway, the newspapers are full with it: more here, here and here.
It's very silly to cut the rebate. People with more money should be the early adopters so that the price comes down for the rest of us as economies of scale kick in. That's how it works with most technology.
ReplyDeleteIt is easy to blame the GOvt for being so short sighted but we voted for them. The solar industry has a lot to answer for as some installers still expect to charge $14,000 for a system while the $A is rising and a reduced price would generate demand to the point that they would be profitable. Follow the lead of the computer industry where firms such as Microsoft kept the initial prices low to create demand while others priced their products to recover their development costs quickly. It is obvious which model works best. I have been able to get a quote for $9,850 so the net price)after rebate) will be $2,850 + Synergy meter charges. What is needed from Synergy or the Govt is a Feed-in Tariff of 40c gross output to really make it worthwhile. Unfortunately the WA State Govt takes the attitude that people will be getting cheap power rather than looking at it as the Govt getting cheap rental of people's roofspace for power generation. No vision from our elected reps again. They will continue to build coal-fired monsters at great cost to the State and environment. Sad.
ReplyDeleteWhats annoying is the government incompetance in understanding the technical and economic issues and drivers. For every watt the centralised power plants generate, 50% of that power is lost in transmission and distribution. Given the poor efficiency of fossil generated power (less than 50% thermal efficiency), that means only 25% is available to the householder. This is clunker technology. Whereas if we generate on the rooftop, we don't have that loss and we back-feed into the grid at peak times and during the summer when demand is greatest on the network. Peak demand is the reason we have to have excess capacity installed - so called 'spinning reserve'. To take away the rebate from those who have the capacity to pay is to fail to believe in any kind of environmental resposibility. Peter Garrett has failed his portfolio and Rudd has failed in his for not stopping the fools from their own folly
ReplyDeleteWhy should the taxpayer foot the bill for those earning over $100000 a year? I am on a pension of $20000 and I plan to live without the trimmings for a while and fund this very worthwhile project for my home and the planet and so are some of my friends in similiar circumstances as I. The government is already doing it's share..now it's our turn..so let's show a little gumption and grit..we are in it together.
ReplyDeleteMargaret (Perth)
good blog thanks
ReplyDelete