Solar power in Australia

White Cliffs Solar Power Station, NSW

Australia has an estimated 300 MW of installed photovoltaic (PV) power (September 2010), contributing an estimated 0.1 to 0.2% of total electricity production (as of July 2009) despite the hot and sunny climate that would make it ideal for utilisation. Feed-in tariffs and mandatory renewable energy targets are designed to assist renewable energy commercialisation in Australia.

Potential

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.

Incentives

Rebates

Until June 2009 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. 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)

Schools are 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 replaces the Green Vouchers for Schools program.

Feed-in tariffs

Main article: Feed-in tariffs in Australia

Feed in tariffs are being introduced by a number of states to increase the amount of solar PV power generated. can be defined by a number of factors including the price paid, whether it is on a net or gross basis, the length of time for which the scheme is guaranteed, the maximum size of installation allowed to benefit, the type of customer allowed to participate. Current Australian State tariffs are only net basis tariffs, whereas conservation groups are arguing for gross feed in tariffs. From March 2009 the Australian Capital Territory(ACT) has introduced a solar gross feed in tariff. For systems up to 10 kW the payment is 50.05 cents per kWh. For systems from 10 kW to 30 kW the payment is 40.04 cents per kWh. The payment is made quarterly based on energy generated. The tariff rate is guaranteed for 20 years. 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.

Mandatory Renewable Energy Target

Main article: Mandatory renewable energy targets

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.

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

The Solar Flagships program sets aside $1.6 billion for solar power. 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.

Projects

Status by state

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 3 kW are not listed.

State	Project/Location	Coordinates	Capacity kW	Status	Council	Company	Notes
NSW	Pymble Ladies' College	33.745°S 151.137°E / -33.745; 151.137	16	commissioned 2011	Ku-ring-gai	Autonomous Energy	Photovoltaic
NSW	Johnson & Johnson Medical		200	commissioned 2010		Energy Matters	Photovoltaic
NSW	Dubbo	32.25°S 148.62°E / -32.25; 148.62	50	commissioned 1998		Country Energy	Photovoltaic
NSW	GPG Solar	32.25°S 148.62°E / -32.25; 148.62	45	commissioned 2008		GPG Solar Panel	Photovoltaic
NSW	Building 46, Newington Armoury	33.85°S 151.07°E / -33.85; 151.07	64	commissioned 1999, refurbished 2007		Sydney Olympic Park Authority	Photovoltaic
NSW	Newington	33.85°S 151.07°E / -33.85; 151.07	10	commissioned 1996		Energy Australia	Photovoltaic
NSW	Leichardt	33.865°S 151.13°E / -33.865; 151.13	3	commissioned 2000		Leichardt Council	Photovoltaic
NSW	Liddell Power Station [1]	32.374851°S 150.979013°E / -32.374851; 150.979013	1,000	complete		Solar Heat and Power / Macquarie Generation	Solar thermal
NSW	Little Bay	33.87°S 151.18°E / -33.87; 151.18	4	commissioned 1994		University of New South Wales	Photovoltaic
NSW	Lord Howe Island	31.550°S 159.080°E / -31.550; 159.080	10	commissioned 1997		SEDA	Photovoltaic
NSW	Newcastle Foreshore	32.930°S 151.770°E / -32.930; 151.770	6	commissioned 1996		Energy Australia	Photovoltaic
NSW	Pine Bluff	33.570°S 148.560°E / -33.570; 148.560	6	commissioned 2002		Trinity Grammar School	Photovoltaic
NSW	Queanbeyan	35.350°S 149.230°E / -35.350; 149.230	50	commissioned 1999		Country Energy	Photovoltaic
NSW	Singleton	32.591°S 151.177°E / -32.591; 151.177	400	commissioned 1998		Energy Australia	Photovoltaic
NSW	Sydney	33.870°S 151.210°E / -33.870; 151.210	7	commissioned 1997		SEDA	Photovoltaic
NSW	Sydney Superdome	33.870°S 151.170°E / -33.870; 151.170	70	commissioned 1999		Energy Australia	Photovoltaic
NSW	White Cliffs Solar Power Station	30.856°S 143.089°E / -30.856; 143.089	45	Constructed 1981 25 kW, upgraded 1996, decommissioned 2004		White Cliffs	Originally steam piston then photovoltaic
VIC	Brunswick	37.780°S 144.980°E / -37.780; 144.980	20			Citipower	Photovoltaic
VIC	490 Spencer Street, West Melbourne	37.808874°S 144.949287°E / -37.808874; 144.949287	23	Commissioned in 2011	City of Melbourne	The Green Spaces, Green Buildings for Small Business	Photovoltaic, see www.thegreenspaces.com.au and select "our footprint"
VIC	Fosterville	36.785°S 144.486°E / -36.785; 144.486	24			Solar Systems Pty Ltd	Photovoltaic
VIC	Queen Victoria Market	37.807°S 144.960°E / -37.807; 144.960	200	commissioned 2003		Melbourne City Council	Photovoltaic
VIC	Ballarat University, SMB Campus, Grant Street, Ballarat	37.63°S 143.89°E / -37.63; 143.89	8.5	Complete	Ballarat	Going Solar	Building Integrated PV - the largest contiguous BIPV vertical facade in Australia.
VIC	Ballarat Solar Park. Ballarat Aerodrome. Mitchell Park, Ballarat.	37°S 143°E	300	Complete	Ballarat	Origin Energy / Sharp Corporation	Photovoltaic. Victoria’s first ground mounted, flat plate and grid-connected solar farm
VIC	Bendigo Solar Park.		300	Complete	Bendigo	Origin Energy / Sharp Corporation	Photovoltaic. Victoria’s first ground mounted, flat plate and grid-connected solar farm
VIC	50 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne	37.8096°S 144.9707°E / -37.8096; 144.9707	4	Complete	Melbourne	Going Solar	High-rise installation in Melbourne's CBD.
VIC	45 Faversham Road, Canterbury	37.819523°S 145.084027°E / -37.819523; 145.084027	4.94	commissioned 2011	Melbourne	Sunstainable[2]	Photovoltaic.
VIC	Tullamarine-Calder Interchange Solar Freeway Noise Wall, Essendon Airport, Melbourne	37.73°S 144.880°E / -37.73; 144.880	24.4	Complete	Melbourne	Going Solar	Building Integrated PV - Australia's first Solar Noise Wall: Solar Panels used as a noise barrier on a freeway.
QLD	Caboolture	27.160°S 152.940°E / -27.160; 152.940	5	commissioned 2000		Stanwell Corporation	Photovoltaic
QLD	Tewantin (PO)	26.393°S 153.038°E / -26.393; 153.038	5	commissioned 2001		Australian Postal Corporation	Photovoltaic
QLD	Coorparoo	27.4963°S 153.0636°E / -27.4963; 153.0636	5.5	commissioned 2007		Clyde Anderson Pty Ltd	Photovoltaic
QLD	Cloncurry Solar Power Station		2128	Planning		Ingenero	Was Solar thermal, now Photovoltaic
QLD	Windorah Solar Farm		150	Completed December 2008		Ergon Energy, Solar Systems	Photovoltaic [3]
QLD	University of Queensland St Lucia campus	27°29′52″S 153°00′46″E	1220	Completed July 2011		Ingenero, Trina Solar, RedFlow	Photovoltaic [4] [5]
SA	Adelaide Showgrounds	34.945355°S 138.586626°E / -34.945355; 138.586626	1000	Completed 2009		Built Environs and Solar Shop Australia [6]	Photovoltaic [7] [8] [9]
SA	Wilpena Pound	31.570°S 138.580°E / -31.570; 138.580	100	commenced 1998		AGL	Photovoltaic
SA	Whyalla	33.035°S 137.560°E / -33.035; 137.560 (Town, not project)		announced March 2008 [10]		Wizard Power Pty Ltd	Solar Thermal with ammonia thermochemical storage (1000 homes)
WA	Carnarvon	24.900°S 113.717°E / -24.900; 113.717	46	15.8 commissioned 2005; 30.2 added 2007	Carnarvon Shire	Alexander Fullarton	Photovoltaic
WA	Kalbarri	27.71°S 114.16°E / -27.71; 114.16	20	commissioned 1995		Verve Energy	grid-connected tracking system
WA	Noranda	31.880°S 115.890°E / -31.880; 115.890	3	commissioned 2001		Noranda Primary School	Photovoltaic
NT	Bulman	13.660°S 134.330°E / -13.660; 134.330	56	commissioned 2002		NT PowerWater	Photovoltaic
NT	Hermannsburg	23.933°S 132.767°E / -23.933; 132.767	192	commissioned 2005		Solar Systems	Photovoltaic
NT	Kings Canyon	24.250°S 131.570°E / -24.250; 131.570	241	commissioned 2003		NT PowerWater	Photovoltaic
NT	Lajamanu	18.338°S 130.633°E / -18.338; 130.633	288	commissioned 2005		Solar Systems	Photovoltaic
NT	Yuendumu	22.258°S 131.797°E / -22.258; 131.797	192	commissioned 2005		Solar Systems	Photovoltaic

Victoria

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.

Northern Territory

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.

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 AUD $7M, offset by a grant from the Australian and Northern Territory Governments under their Renewable Remote Power Generation Program.

The project won a prestigious Engineering Excellence award in 2005.

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.

Solar cities program

Main article: Solar Cities in Australia

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

See also

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

External links

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