Posted September 27, 2018 07:16:47 There is a lot of talk about rooftop solar and what it means for the industry, and the government has yet to set any rules.
But there are some states that could sell energy on the grid.
The key question is, can the federal government make it a policy?
A new report from Australian Financial Press (AFP) has looked at how renewable energy could be exported to other states, and found a number of states are on the fence.
This could potentially mean new policies that will help states sell electricity to customers, or that will be part of a broader national policy to increase the share of renewables in the grid, or a combination of the two.
Here’s a look at how the states could export renewable energy to other countries.
The report found there are five states that have some sort of solar market, with five states producing between 10 and 50 per cent of the state’s total solar electricity.
Victoria, for example, generates about 40 per cent.
“We’ve got a lot to learn from the US and the European countries, and there’s a lot more to learn about how we can be more efficient and how to deliver solar energy to our grid,” said AFRP’s senior energy economist Matthew Smith.
“But we’ve got the ability to export energy in this manner and that’s really the question.”
The study found the five states are: Western Australia, Tasmania, South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria.
The study also found the federal Government’s Renewable Energy Target is set to be phased in from 2020, with renewable energy production from the grid to increase from about 25 per cent to 50 per Cent by 2025.
This is part of the federal Renewable Electricity Target, which is set at 10 per cent for the next four years.
The federal Government is aiming for 50 per-cent renewable energy by 2020.
Mr Smith said the states would need to find the right balance between having a strong market, and maintaining the supply chain of suppliers to the grid and customers.
“What they’re trying to do is create a marketplace that’s based on a level playing field where there’s some protection for the producers and they’re incentivised to get that done,” he said.
“There are going to be a lot less suppliers out there than there are producers.”
The five states would then need to have a solar market with at least one installer in each of those states.
The four states that already have solar projects would be excluded from the federal market, while the remaining states would be able to sell their electricity to the rest of Australia.
This would likely mean the federal Department of Industry and Innovation would need a $40 million loan from the states to set up a market, which would cost the states between $30 million and $40,000 per project.
The states would also need to establish a program to support the grid in developing solar projects, but would also be required to submit an annual energy report to the federal Energy Security Authority, which will have the ability of inspecting projects and ensuring there are no issues with the system.
There is also a cap on how much electricity a state can sell to a customer, with the federal Coalition government limiting that to just under 20 per cent, which has caused concern from solar proponents.
The Federal Government has not yet decided on how the program would work, with Mr Smith saying it could be more flexible or the states need to work out what the best approach is.
However, Mr Smith warned it could lead to “a big mess”.
“You would have to look at every one of those proposals individually, so you would have an enormous amount of discretion to set it up,” he told the ABC.
“You’d have to be very careful about how much you do and how much it does.
You would have a lot at stake.”
The states could sell their power directly to the market, by installing solar panels on their roofs, or they could sell the electricity through a partnership with a local power provider.
“The key thing to understand about renewable energy is that it’s energy that comes from the sun and that can be produced, stored, and used in the market.
You could sell it directly to customers or you could sell that energy through a deal with a power provider,” Mr Smith explained.
They’re probably getting a very low price because they’re not going to get as much energy from the wind.” “
And they’ll have to get a very good deal.
They’re probably getting a very low price because they’re not going to get as much energy from the wind.”
The research also looked at the cost of installing solar in each state, with Tasmania having the lowest cost per kilowatt-hour of $0.16, while South Australia is second at $0;16.
South Australia has the highest cost per watt-hour in the study at $3.07, while Tasmania has the lowest at $1.34.
In Victoria, solar is the cheapest option for generating electricity at $5.
