White Cliffs Solar Power Station, NSW

Australia has over 2 GW of installed photovoltaic (PV) power (November 2012),^[1] and 859 MW of PV was installed in 2011 (more than double than in 2010). 2012 year-to-date installations exceeded 450 MW in August.^[2] This is up from 1031.1 MW of installed photovoltaic (PV) power (August 2011),.^[3] At a capacity factor of 14 percent, this would contribute 8/10th of one percent of Australia's electrical energy (~261 terawatt hours per year) (1.74 x 24 x 365 x 0.14 = 2133 gigawatt hours = 2.1 terawatt hours). Growth in the amount of installed PV capacity in Australia has been dramatic with a 10-fold increase between 2009 and 2011. Feed-in tariffs and mandatory renewable energy targets designed to assist renewable energy commercialisation in Australia have largely been responsible for the rapid increase. The first commercial-scale PV power plant opened October 2012 at Greenough River Solar Farm with a capacity of 10 MW.^[4] The price of photovoltaics has been decreasing, and in January 2013, was less than half the cost of using grid electricity in Australia.^[5]

Potential [edit]

The combination of Australia's dry climate and latitude give it a high potential for solar energy production. Most of the Australian continent receives in excess of 4 kWh per square metre per day of insolation during winter months, with a region in the north exceeding 6 kWh/day. Australia's insolation greatly exceeds the average values in Europe, Russia, and most of North America. Comparable levels are found in desert areas of northern and southern Africa, south western United States and adjacent area of Mexico, and regions on the Pacific coast of South America. However, the areas of Australia with highest insolation are in the interior, away from population centers.^[6]

Incentives [edit]

Rebates [edit]

The Australian Government provided a rebate program that offered up to A$8,000 rebates for installing solar panels on homes and community use buildings (other than schools), through the Solar Homes and Communities Plan.^[7] However, on 8 June 2009, this program was phased out, to be replaced by the Solar Credits Program, where an installation of a solar system would receive 5 times as many Renewable Energy Certificates for the first 1.5 kilowatts of capacity under the Renewable Energy Target (see below)^[8]

Schools were eligible to apply for grants of up to A$50,000 to install 2 kW solar panels and other measures through the National Solar Schools Program beginning 1 July 2008, which replaced the Green Vouchers for Schools program.^[9] Applications for the program ended 21 November 2012. A total of 2,870 schools have installed solar panels.^[10] The output of each array can be viewed, and compared with that of up to four other schools.^[11]

Feed-in tariffs [edit]

Feed in tariffs were introduced by a number of states to increase the amount of solar PV power generated. They can be classified by a number of factors including the price paid, whether it is on a net or gross export basis, the length of time payments are guaranteed, the maximum size of installation allowed and the type of customer allowed to participate. Many Australian state feed-in tariffs were net export tariffs, whereas conservation groups argued for gross feed-in tariffs. In March 2009, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) started a solar gross feed-in tariff. For systems up to 10 kW the payment was 50.05 cents per kWh. For systems from 10 kW to 30 kW the payment was 40.04 cents per kWh. The payment was revised downward once before an overall capacity cap was reached and the scheme closed. Payments are made quarterly based on energy generated and the payment rate is guaranteed for 20 years.^[12][13] In Germany, a guaranteed PV tariff means that Germany now has the highest PV capacity per capita – at 10W for every person in Germany compared to Australia at 2.6W per capita.^[14]

Mandatory Renewable Energy Target [edit]

The Federal Government MRET will ensure renewable energy obtains a 20% share of electricity supply in Australia by 2020. The MRET will increase from 9,500 gigawatt-hours to 45,000 gigawatt-hours by 2020. The scheme lasts until 2030.^[15]

The MRET requires wholesale purchasers of electricity (such as electricity retailers or industrial operations) to purchase Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), created through the generation of electricity from renewable sources. These sources include Wind, Hydro, Landfill Gas and Geothermal, as well as Solar PV and Solar Thermal, providing a stimulus and additional revenue for these technologies.

Subsidy funding [edit]

The Solar Flagships program sets aside $1.6 billion for solar power.^[16] The government funding is for 4 new solar plants that produce coal plant scale power (in total up to 1000 MW - coal plants typically produce 500 to 2,000 MW). This subsidy would need additional funding from the plant builders and/or operators. As a comparison Abengoa Solar, a company currently constructing solar thermal plants, put the cost of a 300 MW plant at 1.2 billion euros in 2007. In 2009, the Arizona state government announced a 200 MW plant for 1 billion US dollars.^[17][18]

Projects [edit]

Status by state [edit]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2012)

The list of solar power projects below is not complete as there are many more sites that have solar power or hybrid solar/wind systems to generate their own power needs. Projects with a power rating less than 30 kW are not listed.

Victoria [edit]

The 150 MW PV Mildura Solar Concentrator Power Station is planned and is expected to cost as much as $905 million over its lifetime. It is expected to be the biggest and most efficient solar photovoltaic power station in the world. The power station is expected to concentrate the sun by 500 times onto the solar cells for ultra high power output. The Victorian power station will generate electricity directly from the sun to meet the annual needs of over 45,000 homes with on-going zero greenhouse gas emissions.^[45]

Western Australia [edit]

Western Australia now (Oct 2012) has one of the largest solar power farms in Australia, at Walkaway, 70 km SE of Geraldton. The Greenough River Solar farm was opened in October 2012. The 10MW field has 150,000 solar panels.

Northern Territory [edit]

There are 30 solar concentrator dishes at three locations in the Northern Territory: Hermannsburg, Yuendumu and Lajamanu. Solar Systems and the Federal government were involved in the projects.

The solar concentrator dish power stations together generate 720 kW and 1,555,000 kWh per year, representing a saving of 420,000 litres of diesel and 1,550 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.^[46]

The solar power stations at these three remote indigenous communities in Australia’s Northern Territory are constructed using Solar Systems’ CS500 concentrator dish systems. The project cost A$7M, offset by a grant from the Australian and Northern Territory Governments under their Renewable Remote Power Generation Program.^[47]

The project won a prestigious Engineering Excellence award in 2005.^[47]

The Federal Government has funded over 120 innovative small-scale standalone solar systems in remote indigenous communities, designed by Bushlight, incorporating sophisticated demand side management systems with user-friendly interfaces.

Australian Capital Territory [edit]

A new solar power plant will be built on 50 hectares of land in Canberra it will be 20 megawatt facility. It will be powered by 83,000 solar panels enough power for 4,400 homes. Construction is due to begin next year and be completed by 2014, subject to environmental and planning approval. It's going to be the first solar plant facility in the Australian capital. The facility will be built by a Spanish company Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV).^[48]

Solar cities program [edit]

Solar Cities is a demonstration programme designed to promote solar power, smart meters, and energy conservation in urban locations throughout Australia.^[49]

See also [edit]

	Energy portal
	Renewable energy portal
	Sustainable development portal
	Australia portal
	Environment portal

• Andrew Blakers
• Building-integrated photovoltaics
• Martin Green
• List of countries by electricity production from renewable sources
• Photovoltaic and renewable energy engineering in Australia
• Renewable energy in Australia
• Solar hot water in Australia
• Solar thermal energy in Australia
• Centre for Appropriate Technology (Australia)

References [edit]

External links [edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Solar power in Australia

• A daily solar map of Australia from Bureau of Meteorology
• Australian Solar Institute (ASI)
• The Desert Knowledge Australia Solar Centre
• Sunburnt land has energy in store. The Australian. 3 September 2007.
• Brumby planning to plug Victoria into the sun. The Age. 17 June 2008.
• 1200 Buildings Initiative The City of Melbourne, 490 Spencer Street, West Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

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