Bill shock for WA businesses

Up to 21,000 WA businesses face a surprise 10 per cent power price hike from next month, in part because a surge in solar panels has reduced electricity demand and forced Western Power to lift its tariffs to claw back a slump in revenue.

However, the hit could have been worse, with the State’s economic watchdog […]

Bill shock for WA businesses 2015-10-23T11:28:04+08:00

Coal, gas profits suffer as business goes solar

SOLAR power systems are being installed by businesses at triple the rate they were a year ago as a glut of Chinese cells and rising Australian power prices combine to improve solar’s economics and threaten the profits of coal and gas-fired power providers.

Many of the photovoltaic cell systems used by businesses — which mostly need […]

Coal, gas profits suffer as business goes solar 2018-02-21T16:28:05+08:00

Australia makes its first solar power million

More than two million Australians are now getting cheaper power and saving some half a billion dollars a year on their electricity bills, because of their switch to solar energy.

The number of Australian homes with solar power systems has passed the one million mark, according to figures from the Clean Energy Regulator that confirm the […]

Australia makes its first solar power million 2015-10-23T11:28:25+08:00

Clean energy investment back on target

Clean energy investors have been given a boost today as the Federal Government closed the book on another review of the Renewable Energy Target, again concluding that the scheme is highly effective in driving the transition of the Australian energy sector at very low cost to consumers.

Clean Energy Council Deputy Chief Executive Kane Thornton said […]

Clean energy investment back on target 2015-10-23T11:28:35+08:00

Do not spit chips over power bills: solar flares!

IT WAS Intel founder Gordon E. Moore who observed in 1965 that there was a doubling in the power of computer chips every two years.

Moore predicted this trend would persist for another 10 years and his prognostications have proven eerily correct.

Even extrapolating Moore’s Law, as it became known, beyond the realms of semiconductors into digital […]

Do not spit chips over power bills: solar flares! 2015-10-23T11:28:50+08:00

Australia joins US in $83m solar research plan

The Federal Government has announced an $83 million solar research program in partnership with the United States.

The eight-year project will bring together six Australian universities, the CSIRO and the US department of energy.

Its aim is to create new technology that will reduce the cost of solar power.

Read more >>

Source: ABC News

Australia joins US in $83m solar research plan 2015-10-23T11:29:02+08:00

Combet cuts support for solar

Climate Change Minister Greg Combet announced late this morning that the government will be phasing out the solar credits multiplier of 2 STCs per megawatt-hour to just one six months ahead of schedule on January 1, 2013.

Currently STCs are trading at around $32. With the current multiplier of 2, for a 1.5 kW system in […]

Combet cuts support for solar 2018-02-21T16:28:06+08:00

Power firm Synergy holds out on carbon tax

ENERGY company Synergy is pocketing millions of bonus carbon tax dollars by holding on to the money collected from West Australians for up to a year before handing it over to the Federal Government.

The monopoly electricity retailer already has collected $68 million from households and businesses and will raise an estimated further $150 million […]

Power firm Synergy holds out on carbon tax 2015-10-23T11:29:25+08:00

Huge solar farm opened in WA

Australia’s first utility-scale solar farm has opened for business near Geraldton in Western Australia’s Mid West region.

The 10-megawatt (MW) capacity Greenough River Solar Farm, which is Australia’s biggest solar photovoltaic project comprising 150,000 panels, was officially opened on Wednesday.

Source: ninemsn

Huge solar farm opened in WA 2015-10-23T11:29:36+08:00

Risks in tinkering with RET target

Since the release of the Climate Change Authority’s issues paper on the renewable energy target, public debate on the target has been primarily split between two camps. One is to change it because of the possibility of its delivering more than 20 per cent of electricity generation from renewable sources by 2020. The other is […]

Risks in tinkering with RET target 2015-10-23T11:29:52+08:00