Professor Ray Wills of the Sustainable Energy Association of Australia (SEA) has challenged the notion that spending more on renewables is somehow a bad thing and brought the situation regarding Western Australia’s solar feed in tariff into perspective.
Professor Wills points out while the media circus has focused on the “blowout” in Western Australia’s scheme; there has been no analysis of the benefits.
“Energy Minister Peter Collier rightly points out that 76,000 WA homes now have solar panels on their roofs as “a terrific outcome”,’ says Professor Wills, who says the uptake hasn’t been confined to the wealthy, but spurred on by average households in Western Australia now slashing their electricity bills.
“We are yet to calculate the savings that this program has bought - savings that will amount to fewer upgrades to poles and wires, has in the vast majority of cases delivered improved electricity quality and reliability, and will avoid the need for investment in new fossil-fuel based generation.”
While acknowledging management issues with the solar feed in tariff initiative, Professor Wills says the Government failed to heed the Association’s advice prior to the May 2011 Budget, which recommended the Government plan to ‘ease back the tariff’ in a way to establish a glide path for the sector, rather than a coarse readjustment.
‘Government failed to take the advice of the industry on the changes to the feed in tariff, and the renewable energy industry continues to be plagued by Federal and State Government decisions made with inadequate consultation and that lead to boom/ bust cycles and fail to provide the conditions needed to grow the industry sustainably.’
Professor Wills was especially critical of exaggerations in the media regarding the ramifications of the scheme’s increased costs.
“The fact is that renewable energy schemes have had little impact on recent electricity price rises in Western Australia, and that the cost overrun for this scheme, if they were passed on, will amount to little more than a few points of one percent on annual household energy bills”.
