According to Beyond Zero Emissions (BZE), if all the solar panels currently in service in Germany were installed in Australia, they would generate a quarter of our electricity needs.
In the first half of this year, solar panels generated 4.5 per cent of Germany’s electricity. Not resting on its laurels, the German government has announced a 52 gigawatt rooftop solar capacity target. If, or more likely, when, this goal is reached, it will represent enough capacity to supply half of Australia’s electricity requirements given our more favourable solar resources.
“Compare this to Australia’s weak efforts to meet the 20 per cent renewable energy target, which has only achieved 4 per cent additional renewables (wind and solar) in the last 5 years,” says a statement from BZE.
“Given the big reductions in solar panel costs in recent years, the cost of this rollout in Australia would be one quarter (25 per cent) of what Germany has paid to date.”
BZE believes Australia should set a rooftop solar target high enough to supply 25 per cent of Australia’s power requirements.
“It’s obvious we can do much better. If we set these targets we can achieve them with the proven feed-in tariff mechanism.”
There certainly isn’t any shortage of rooftop real estate in our towns and cities to assist in achieving such an ambitious goal.
Aside from lowering emissions, solar panel uptake has already helped lower wholesale electricity costs in Australia through solar’s ‘merit order effect’ and even played a role in delaying expenditure on electricity infrastructure projects that would otherwise be needed.
While wholesale electricity costs have decreased thanks in part to solar, one of the reasons why Australia’s are feeling more power bill pain is an increase in network costs.
Network costs are made up of two major elements: the cost of taking electricity directly from generators on high-voltage power lines, which includes linkages across state borders; and the distribution network, which comprises lower-voltage transmission to the end user. Again, these costs are aspects that solar PV can help address.
