It’s boom-time for Australia’s rooftop solar sector, but not everything is rosy. We take a glimpse into the world of “crap solar,” where helping people to save money on their bills is the last thing on the agenda.
There has been a bit of debate, lately, about the merits and purpose of the Clean Energy Council’s Approved Solar Retailer program. So a recap of its goals and objectives might be worthwhile.
It has been argued that the CSIRO’s report was “a stitch up” for renewables, and very obviously designed to downplay the benefits, even though almost every scenario the role of renewables resulted in benefits..
Australia now has around 52GWh of solar storage installed – an incredible result – and could have almost 200GWh by the end of 2017 – a profound result. But it will take some work.
Publication of an updated list of approved solar panels which saw an incredible 76% of solar brands no longer listed as approved for use in Australia.
We are witnessing a horrible dumbing down and commoditisation of solar and storage in Australia, when it should be the reverse.
Newly released survey data suggests we may have dramatically underestimated the take up of battery storage in Australia.
The good news is solar owners can still continue to get fantastic returns from their solar systems, the less good news is the returns won’t be the same and utility meters will need to be changed in most cases..
I had been lead to believe that prices were going to be flat or at worst increasing only slightly, so what on earth is going on?
The much criticised NSW solar bonus scheme is due to end soon. It cost a lot less than feared – 50c/week to households – and laid the foundations for a clean energy industry.