NSW GREEN ENERGY LEAP TRIPPED BY RUDD’S CPRS
Tuesday, 10 November 2009 11:35
Today’s decision by Premier Rees to adopt a generous gross feed-in tariff for solar power demonstrates a serious commitment to the green energy state, Total Environment Centre (TEC) said.
The Federal Government CPRS however, means the greenhouse gas savings of voluntary greenhouse reductions – like the roof-top solar - won’t be added on top of the CPRS target.
“The Rees government’s early Christmas, green gift to NSW shows what can be done when politicians get serious about climate change,” said Jane Castle, Senior Campaigner at TEC.
“Unfortunately the Rudd Government is saying ‘don’t bother’ with its failure to ensure that roof-top solar and other voluntary action will reduce Australia’s total emissions and thus improve the CPRS target. Kevin Rudd needs to get with the nation’s surging enthusiasm to reduce emissions by ensuring additional reductions like this count.”
The new NSW policy ensures that electricity retailers must pay a generous amount for all of the electricity generated by roof-top solar, not just the leftovers. It reduces the time in which the panels are paid off to between 8 and 10 years.
“The Federal Government will continue to work at cross-purposes to the rest of Australia until it removes the barrier to voluntary action,” said Castle. Until then, anything that goes beyond what the emissions trading scheme would already trigger will merely allow big polluters to pollute more, more cheaply.
“This policy breakthrough also highlights the need to roll-out smart meters which are designed to measure the gross generation from roof-top panels. Unless the mandatory smart meters have the capacity to measure gross generation from the start, households will be slammed with yet another unnecessary cost for doing the right thing.”
The Ministerial Council on Energy has agreed to a staged roll-out of smart meters but the meters are only required to measure the roof-top solar electricity left over after household use. This conflicts with ACT and NSW policies that measure the total amount generated from roof-top solar.
“Unless this is fixed it will force households to fork around $100 - $200 dollars extra to buy a new meter or get the old one transfigured,” Castle said.
