Solar Hits Grid Parity

 Whilst the price of dirty coal produced electricity has continued to rise over the last decade, the price of solar has fallen... and fallen... and fallen. So much so that today in NSW, solar has become as cheap to generate coal.

About 5 years ago my family placed a 1.5kw solar array on their roof, at the time this cost AU$16 000 (not including rebates) The same arrays just five years later are advertised for just $3000. This is excellent news for the solar industry, no longer can the proponents of dirty coal claim that renewable energy uneconomical, its just as cheap, and in the near future will be even cheaper.

When you think about it, its a no brainer. Coal power plants are expensive to build, to run, to dig the coal from the ground and transport it to the power plant. Solar on the other hand is a one off investment, the panels are manufactured and installed, then run on a free and abundant power source with next to zero maintenance costs for decades to come. Its a simple, one off capital investment that pays dividends for the rest of its life. If we actually factored in the real cost of coal to society, the loss of farmland to mining, the health impacts of toxins released into the air,  the future impacts of climate change in destroying infrastructure, homes, agriculture, biodiversity and lives for generations to come, the cost of coal is astronomical. Now is the time to invest in clean energy, coal can no longer hide behind economic arguments not to.

East Coast HSR Could Cut Carbon

The Corridor for phase two of the Study. Source:
HIGH SPEED RAIL STUDY – PHASE 1AECOM Australia Pty Ltd 

 Each year 7.88Million trips are made by air between the two most populous cities in Australia, making the Sydney-Melbourne corridor the 5th busiest in the world. Other people travel by car and almost exclusively by car to every town and city in between. Think of how much CO2 that produces. High Speed Rail makes sense, a clean and efficient way to transport people between the CBDs of Sydney,  Canberra, Melbourne, Newcastle and Brisbane. Today the federal government released their report into high speed rail, and it argues a strong case.

By 2056 almost 30million people will live in the corridor between Brisbane and Melbourne. If we are to stop our cities from sprawling out of control and becoming crippled by congestion, more people are going to have to live in regional cities. High speed rail can get them there. If we are to reduce our emissions, we need high speed rail. If we are to keep regional cities like Newcastle alive, we need high speed rail. Potentially it can be powered entirely by renewable energy, reducing the carbon emissions of a trip to Melbourne to 0.  Other nations around the world including China, the USA and even Morocco are building high speed rail to prepare themselves for reductions in emissions and the rising cost of oil.

Think about it: 3 hours from Central and you are in the heart of Melbourne or Brisbane, no airport queues, no take off and landing. 40 minutes and you are home from work in Sydney CBD, except you live in Newcastle. What is clear is; the longer we delay the start of construction, the greater the need will become and the more expensive it will be in the long run.

The Price of Uncertainty

Today China, the worlds largest manufacturer of solar panels announced a new feed in tariff, projected to increase solar capacity 10x in five years. Just another reminder that, contrary to the missinformation supplied by shock jock radio stations, nations around the world are investing heavily in clean technology. So it seems that after years of inaction and lost opportunities as investment moves overseas, at last there is a bright future for our renewables industry. At least thats the plan, with the threat of the yet unlegislated ETS being shredded by Tonny Abbott should he become our next PM, Australia is still an uncertain market. 


So what have we lost? 

This week the Australian company Enviromission announced it had signed a contract with the Southern California Public Power Authority to supply it with enough electricity to power 150 000 homes from a solar tower to be built in the Arizona Desert. This innovative new technology was once planned for Northern Victoria. 

Surprise! Another Australian corporation is forced overseas to less hostile markets.In China, the largest beneficiary of the new feed in tariff will be it's largest solar manufacturer Suntech Power. Suntech has made its founder  Shi Zhengrong the worlds first solar billionaire. Zhengrong, trained at the University of NSW, is yet another example of Australian technology and Australian entrepreneurialship lost to overseas markets. 


I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains.....


Ironic that Germany, a land of fog and rain has installed a solar capacity 54x that of Australia. But then Europe's ETS has operated since 2005.