Solar Power in Australia (how much, houses, to buy)

[OyCrumbler]

I'm curious how the solar power industry is doing in Australia.

Australia is singular in the developed world for how much solar potential there is due to its vast areas with limited development and the strength of the sun at its latitudes.

At the same time, Australia has limited petroleum resources and yet uses a massive amount in its trade balance, the potential for massive periods of drought that some energy-intensive desalination plants can help with, and a large mining sector that has a lot of raw materials but stops pretty early in the refining process which adds a great deal of value on top of raw materials.

So to me, it seems like Australia should have a massive industrial scale for solar power, but it seems like it's something that's little pushed in the country. However, I haven't followed this so closely so I'm curious as to what the current state of solar energy is in the country.

[Bakery Hill]

Solar is growing in importance; the number of houses with PV units on their roof is pretty high in some areas in addition to traditional solar farms. But wind is also important, particularly in SA which (along with Tasmania and its large hydroelectric scheme) has one of the highest rates of renewable electricity production in Aus. Wind energy hits 100% of South Australia demand on Sunday : Renew Economy

[MaryFR]

You know I have a sister in NZ. She has a baby now and she is obsessed by warm flour and warm inside the house. That's why she put 2 solar batteries and she is very happy with this decision. As I remember she ordered this service Supercity I know that she needed to spend more money for this than we spent, because she needed maintenance and repair before installing the solars. Probably that the reason why Kiwi don't go to the solar energy with a big interest.

[Joe90]

Originally Posted by MaryFR

You know I have a sister in NZ. She has a baby now and she is obsessed by warm flour and warm inside the house. That's why she put 2 solar batteries and she is very happy with this decision. As I remember she ordered this service Supercity I know that she needed to spend more money for this than we spent, because she needed maintenance and repair before installing the solars. Probably that the reason why Kiwi don't go to the solar energy with a big interest.

I think it's more likely because the payback period of the investment is still too long. Solar water heating seems like the best use of solar power, although contingency still needs to be made for unusually cloudy periods.

NZ has a high percentage of it's power from renewable sources, so off grid systems using batteries, aren't regarded as environmentally friendly. That could change with improvements in battery storage capability.

[MaryFR]

Originally Posted by Joe90

NZ has a high percentage of it's power from renewable sources, so off grid systems using batteries, aren't regarded as environmentally friendly. That could change with improvements in battery storage capability.

Oh, that's new for me...I was sure that batteries are 100% eco-friendly and it's the best decision.
I must googled it, cos I find it pretty interesting.

[OyCrumbler]

Originally Posted by Bakery Hill

Solar is growing in importance; the number of houses with PV units on their roof is pretty high in some areas in addition to traditional solar farms. But wind is also important, particularly in SA which (along with Tasmania and its large hydroelectric scheme) has one of the highest rates of renewable electricity production in Aus. Wind energy hits 100% of South Australia demand on Sunday : Renew Economy

That's fantastic! It's interesting that wind is such a viable option as well.

I think I'm curious about why there isn't a push for almost a surfeit of solar energy where Australia energy prices get driven way down such that energy-intensive industries then have a competitive edge in comparison. Even for something like the mining sector, it seems like having a much more refined product rather than raw material would mean a lot more of the value gets "added on" in Australia before shipping out.

[Paddy234]

Solar power in Australia like New Zealand is still way overpriced. Remember if you get a solar system that connects to the grid the power company buys any power you generate off you for a much smaller price than you buy it from them. Consider the fact that the time of day when most power is produced is during the afternoon most people are at work meaning most power is used early in the morning and evening whenever the sun is either just up or nearly gone. A battery system where you can store power during the day to use in the evening would be the best system but the battery life is only 10 years and it is expected it will take you 7 years to get your moneys worth. You can now see the problem and how solar is still pretty pathetic in terms of it's efficiency

[danielsa1775]

Originally Posted by Paddy234

Solar power in Australia like New Zealand is still way overpriced. Remember if you get a solar system that connects to the grid the power company buys any power you generate off you for a much smaller price than you buy it from them. Consider the fact that the time of day when most power is produced is during the afternoon most people are at work meaning most power is used early in the morning and evening whenever the sun is either just up or nearly gone. A battery system where you can store power during the day to use in the evening would be the best system but the battery life is only 10 years and it is expected it will take you 7 years to get your moneys worth. You can now see the problem and how solar is still pretty pathetic in terms of it's efficiency

Summaries it perfectly.

We have solar hot water on our house. For most of the year our electricity bills come it at slightly more than $100 a month for 6 occupants. It explodes to about $250 a month during the winter when we have to switch the hot water onto the main connection.

[BCC_1]

Originally Posted by OyCrumbler

I'm curious how the solar power industry is doing in Australia.

Australia is singular in the developed world for how much solar potential there is due to its vast areas with limited development and the strength of the sun at its latitudes.

At the same time, Australia has limited petroleum resources and yet uses a massive amount in its trade balance, the potential for massive periods of drought that some energy-intensive desalination plants can help with, and a large mining sector that has a lot of raw materials but stops pretty early in the refining process which adds a great deal of value on top of raw materials.

So to me, it seems like Australia should have a massive industrial scale for solar power, but it seems like it's something that's little pushed in the country. However, I haven't followed this so closely so I'm curious as to what the current state of solar energy is in the country.

Coal is cheap and Australia has more coal than it will ever need. We also have, far and away, the largest uranium reserves in the world. I'd love to see coal phased out and uranium used for base load power with solar and other renewables as peaking plants.

Solar power is more expensive to generate, but the real cost of power is in distribution not in generation. Right now in NSW AEMO shows power being sold at 6c/KWh from the plant, but most users would be paying ~25c/KWh. It's also why home solar systems ran into trouble when governments realised that eventually they would run out of people to pay for the grid.

Tidal power is the most reliable renewable; you can forecast the tides out hundreds of thousands of years. It doesn't get much discussion though.

[Melbourne_worker]

Australia has been sleeping for the past 50 years in terms of energy and water supply.
The population exploded but noone found it necessary to cater for these needs in time.
Home owners got scammed into investing bick bucks for solar panels on their roofs so all excess can be fed back into the grid.
Saves the costs for inverters and batteries but sadly the power providers did not jump onto the train at all.
The buyback rate for solar power from residential houses is so low that you have to lucky to get your electricity bill to zero.
But actually making enough money so the huge investment will pay for itself in time? Just a big scam if you ask me.
The prices for panels have dropped due to massive overproductions in asia, similar story for the so called German engeneered and upgradable inverters.
Truth is those inverters were produced in huge numbers and then the demand for them dropped to nothing.
Prices followed so it is now cheaper to buy in bigger inverters that are a few years old than current models that actually match the needs.
And of course if you want to be green and pay extra for renewable power on your bill then you have no way of knowing if you actually get some.
The simple fact is that our electricity prices have exploded due to a lack of competition, regulation and a too high demand.

Solar power only works during the day and preferably with a clear sky.
Wind energy is useless if there is no wind.
Without a reliable way to store the energy created by wind and solar it does not really matter how much we have of it.

Food for thoughts:
With properly insulated houses and businesses the heating and cooling costs could be cut down by almost 50% in most cases.
We still have a majority of homes build more than 30 years ago, with 3mm single pane windows and gaps around every door and window.
Even our latest homes with the highest energy efficiency rating for AU would not even get a building permit in most european countries due to the lack of energy efficiency...
We are trained to pay what is asked and to never questions on why there is never any real improvement