June 7, 2021
◼ Falling tariffs for feed-in
As in the developed countries, the feed-in tariff or the cash earned by selling excess electricity to the grid has been falling off. And so is the case in Australia.
Different states across Australia have now similar grid regulations that are discouraging the grid feed-in.
As a consequence of these policies, the Australian residential photovoltaics market has opted for energy storage solutions to enhance its utilization of solar energy. Hence, rely less & less on buying back expensive electricity compared to what they had sold to the grid. This has given rise to solutions that can optimize self-consumption. One of the solutions other than battery is to store it in the form of thermal energy offered by my-PV's AC-THOR in Australia through our exclusive distributor ‘Energy Smart Water’.
Mr. Norm Anderson is the Director of NSG Plumbing & Vice-President of Master Plumbers. His company has also been installing the PV panels and stated in an interview with Australian Plumbing Magazine is that the future of solar thermal is getting obsolete and plumbers need to keep up the pace with the innovative renewable technologies in the market. He says, ‘‘we are all changing so education and understanding these innovative technologies is key and it’s probably in everything, even the way we do business today.’’ In another discussion, he mentioned that during COVID, governments are looking for a way to boost the economy and employment which the renewable sector can help with. There are different government rebates & subsidies for this sector. One sector is for solar thermal panel installation. This subsidy is considered for the ageing technology which has no room for innovation and will remain expensive due to its material-intensive construction. He particularly stated, ‘‘they cannot give away the current rebates for thermal solar because it’s old technology and you have got to spend $10,000 to get $1000 back.’’
He emphasized that new technologies should have a fast-track approval mechanism to utilize the best of opportunities.