Update August 2013
Tipping points, when politics or products go one way or another are usually only viewed in hindsight. The tipping point for renewable energy may well be the latest Australian Energy Market Organisation's report on Electricity Market Statement of Opportunities – or
ESOO
(PDF 514 KB).
The key finding: – There is no need for any new thermal (fossil fuel) generation in Australia for another decade!
AEMO says that the increase in rooftop solar PV, the reduction in demand caused by the consumer response to rising electricity prices and the development of large-scale renewables under the Renewable Energy Target (RET) have played key roles.
For Australia and traditional energy companies this is BIG news.
All regional towns and some city suburbs now have proof positive that solar panels and wind turbines can be harnessed to lower escalating power bills and where possible negate them. The key is community ownership of the generating capacity as smart grid technology and batteries evolve to place power generation in the hands of taxpayers.
Evolving COOP energy companies based on renewable energy will offer economic resilience in a financially uncertain world.
Update June 2013
Several Expert reports are now available attesting to the economic and social value of installing renewable energy as widely as possible.
See New Scientist (PDF 934 KB) and AEMO PVP Forecast 2022 (PDF 2.37 MB).
The City of Victor Harbor initiated its first renewable energy program (C-PREP 1) in 2009. Its success has been widely recognized – most recently by Keep Australia Beautiful, in awarding us their national 2013 prize for Energy Innovation. The city now has in the order of 4,000 houses under panel. The economic and ecological benefits increase on a consistent basis. Rate payers save millions of dollars on energy bills and thousands of tons of CO2 are avoided.
Council is about to offer commercial and farming interests across the Fleurieu the same opportunity to cut their energy costs via the C-PREP 2 scheme. Council will announce the scheme in mid to late July. More details can be seen here.
Update March 2013
Momentous Changes in SA Energy Supply
In Late February 2013, The Melbourne Energy Institute released a report by Mike Sandiford on the market impact of solar panels in SA. (A copy can be found here PDF 280 KB.)
Main points:
- SA has the highest penetration of rooftop solar in Australia
- It is shaving and reshaping peak demand curves by as much as 5 and 10%
- One third of PV systems operate at peak demand at any one time
- Midday summer demand is down 15%
- Peak demand has shifted to around 5.00pm reducing the demand for expensive infrastructure and gas peakers
South Australia currently has about 230,000 houses under panel delivering the above results. Sandiford then extrapolates on the data based on the PV take-up continuing. If he is right the changes to the energy industry are profound with energy companies plans for "time of use pricing" beaten by technology available to us all. This is game changing!
This now puts energy generation in the hands of homes shops and factories. When batteries become economic then these "distributed energy" centres can be on or off grid at their choosing. Now that is massive change!
How will energy companies react? They already lobby our Canberra politicians relentlessly. Some idea of their efforts to avoid change can be seen in the Sunblock report out of Hawaii. Hawaii is among the first places in the world to reach grid parity with renewable. Great news for ordinary folks, not such good news for status quo power companies.
The report can be seen here PDF 563 KB.
Update December 2012
The impacts of renewable energy both solar and wind continue to influence much needed economic and ecological change. Best of all are the reduced energy bills for Victor Harbor ratepayers currently totaling in the order of $1.4m in our patch alone.
In 2013 Council will have the opportunity to make these benefits available to our commerce and rural industry via a similar program to C-PREP. Council's Economic Development Committee has approved the draft solar panel retrofit program to be finalized in January. The program is also intended to facilitate a domestic section.
2013 will also see the rise of storage (batteries) enabling the storage of energy generated in daytime to be reused at night. There are a growing number or rural properties installing batteries - enabling farmers to control their energy - thereby avoiding ever increasing power bills. They exchange a power bill for a maintenance bill. While the technologies are proven, costs remain high. The University of Adelaide has offered to work with Council on research and development in energy storage in 2013.
The Demand Side Report ( PDF 1.47 MB) undertaken by Council identified that Victor Harbor's power peak load occurs at midnight when all the electric hot water units come on. As it is now not permissible to install electric hot water units in a new house, power tariffs will change to time of use, further driving interest in batteries and other storage methods.
Our Hybrid Street light will also be installed in January (finally). The concrete base has been poured and is curing. This wind/solar generator will also have batteries for 24 hour operation. Its power outputs and operational statistics will be fed live to this site. Clicking on the pic at the top of this page will enable you to see its results. 
In October 2012 the Keep South Australia Beautiful (KESAB) organization, awarded the city of Victor Harbor its Sustainable Communities Energy Award for Energy Efficiency Initiatives. This unexpected and welcome recognition is a strong indication that our renewable energy efforts are worth broadening and developing further for the benefit of all ratepayers.
The price of solar panels will continue to fall while their efficiency rates will climb from 20% to as high as 40% in the next year.
Update August 2012
The SA Electricity Report (SAER) was released by the Australian Energy Market Operator in the 1st week of August.
It shows in stunning detail how wind and solar power are changing the way South Australians are generating and using power. It also heralds the arrival of cheaper energy which signals cheaper operating costs for SA business.
Two key points : South Australia has had the biggest national reduction in energy demand compared to forecasts of just a year ago – down 10 per cent from last year’s predictions and residential demand fell 7%. This obviates the need to spend hundreds of millions on power stations.
“AEMO estimates that 38 % of rooftop PV capacity installed in SA can be considered to be producing at times of summer maximum demand.”
The report can be found here: South Australian Electricity Report (SAER) ( PDF 880 KB).
Update July 2012
A extraordinary moment in Australia’s economic history occurred in June 2012, just before the end of the 2011/2012 financial year.
For the first time in Australian history - energy demand FELL!
The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has called it “game changing” while AGL has published “Energy Demand Death spiral.”
Contributing to this extraordinary event are two key activities, energy conservation and renewable energy, in particular solar panels. While the effect of wind turbines can not be discounted they are almost without exception owned by large corporations still selling energy at outrageous prices.
Energy companies have long used the argument that more massive power stations and upgrading of power grids justifies power price rises of 18%.
Well no more. As every house, building and factory owner realises that it will be cheaper to install renewable energy instead of copping massive power bills – power demand will continue to fall.
If Australians across all walks of life were looking for a reason to cheer – this is it! The opportunity to lower their energy costs or almost entirely negate them, by installing their own power generation technologies. Welcome to massive change!
Update June 2012
City of Victor Harbor ratepayers now save over $1,000,000 - yearly, in energy bills. With almost 4,000 houses under at least 1.5kWh solar panel arrays, the city also saves approximately 3,000 tons of carbon gas each year. When the additional 3,500houses in adjoining councils are included the numbers increase dramatically. SA has approximately 75,000 houses under panel while the nation is approaching 500,000.
Solar panels, together with energy efficiency initiatives, have driven a fall in the demand for energy. Energy that has traditionally been supplied primarily by coal fired power stations. This has confounded federal policy makers who are only now beginning to realise that the idea of fitting solar panels to every building – just works.
With ever increasing power bills crippling both domestic and business consumers, the era of distributed energy generation has arrived. The price of solar panels is tipped to drop 30% by December 2012 with major commercial firms entering the market. This will enable many more households to access the technology.
State and federal policy makers must now think carefully about legislation that will enable communities like Victor Harbor, to sell the clean energy they generate into the grid. This will enable regional communities to drive new economic growth without damaging our environment.
Update September 2011
C-PREP, the solar panel retrofit program begun by the City of Victor Harbor in 2009 and continued by the Local Government in 2010 as the Solar Councils Program, continues to gain popularity. Currently fifteen meters daily are being fitted to solar panel installations - six days a week!
To understand this popularity and its economic ramifications, it helps to have expert opinion. I have added two such opinions to this site. The first is a recently published piece by Paddy Manning of the Melbourne Age ( PDF 643 KB). Manning says that evidence is mounting that feed in tariffs are reducing energy demand. He further claims that this has led to the deferment of capital expenditure on infrastructure and lower electricity prices.
The second paper is by Dr Andrew Blakers of the Australian National University
( PDF 139 KB). Dr Blakers was the initial inspiration for the C-PREP program and this 2008 paper outlines all forms of renewable energy and how Australia might benefit from them. Manning's AGE article appears to confirm Blaker's conclusions.
In the July 2011 update energy costs per solar watt were reported at 89 cents. This figure should read 98 cents per solar watt. The price of a coal fired watt is approximately 4 cents per watt and rises to approximately 34 cents per watt when grid network costs are added. This is the delta that can gradually be bridged by solar panels.
Update July 2011
SA politicians have decided that the solar feed in tariff will remain at 44 cents per kWh (one generator per taxpayer) for the next 18 years. The current scheme will be closed to new entrants from October 1st 2011.
Now that these directions are set (at least for the near term) it is time to look at the broader picture.
In 1971 the cost per watt of solar power was $100.00, in 1981 $10.00 per watt and in 2011, 89 cents per watt.
The cost per watt of coal generated power is approximately 36 cents. It is not difficult to see that ratepayers will soon access solar panels that are approaching the 36 cent cost.
Energy companies failure to invest in upgrading 70 year old infrastructure allowing for our expanding population, threatens energy supply. Simultaneously, electricity prices are doubling. Even if electricity use remained static, a fairly typical urban energy bill of $400 per quarter will be $800 a quarter sometime in 2015. At approximately $1,700 a year, householders may as well buy solar panels.
The major opportunity for ratepayers is the ability to generate their own power and reduce or negate their power bill. Power provided free by the sun is the taxpayer's to use or sell back into the grid.
When a group of ratepayers is enabled by bulk purchase to gain access to cheaper solar panels, then if the solar power generated by the group can be aggregated sufficiently enough to be sold back into the grid on a megawatt/time scale, then the traditional method of purchasing power from a remote utility at ever increasing prices will change.
The CSIRO calls this form of energy supply, Distributed Energy or DE. Their March 2010 Smart Grid Report says that DE will be worth $130B by 2050 and will be dominated by solar panels from 2015. Victor Harbor's (and Fleurieu) take up of solar panels indicates this will be so.
C-PREP's next goal is to investigate the feasibility of a COOP energy company owned and operated by ratepayers aimed at ushering in an era of "peer to peer" power sharing via a smart grid. The City of Victor Harbor has won a $20k grant to investigate demand side usage across the Fleurieu.
C-PREP Update May 2011
Regional Australia signs up for solar energy
Victor Harbor ranks 3rd in the nation in a survey of postcodes with the highest percentage of household solar installations. Hindmarsh Island / Goolwa ranks 8th.
Mr Matthew Warren, Chief Executive of the Clean Energy Council, the peak body for more than 500 renewable energy companies, said the data showed how popular solar energy is in regional Australia.
“These new figures show clearly that Australia’s switch to renewable energy is even more popular in regional Australia than it is in the city.”
Click here for the full Media Release.
Update February 2011
Victor Harbor is now assisting the Local Government Association's (LGA) roll-out of solar panels across the peninsula. The scheme titled Solar Councils Community Program gives ratepayers access to a range of solar panels (PVPs) at reduced prices. It is based on Victor Harbors C-PREP retrofit, the results of which can be seen here (PDF 340 KB).
The LGA have appointed ZEN to operate the program and all ratepayers will soon receive a letter advising them of information sessions, PVP set sizes and pricing. The letter is reproduced below.
17 February 2011
Re: Lower your energy bills and your carbon footprint
Dear Ratepayer,
The Local Government Association of South Australia, (LGA) has initiated a solar panel purchase scheme. Called the South Australia's Solar Councils Community Program. It now includes Victor Harbor and offers you the opportunity to purchase solar panels under the scheme.
In 2009 The City of Victor Harbor initiated a solar panel purchase plan - Community Program for the Purchase of Renewable Energy or C-PREP, based on the 2009 Federal solar panel rebate plan.
Some 700 Victor Harbor residents and a further 300 or more in adjacent councils gained access to a fully guarantied basic set of solar panels at markedly reduced prices. The program’s full economic and ecological results can be seen here.
The LGA, on evaluating C-PREP’s benefits, has initiated this ongoing solar panel program to enable ratepayers further opportunity to reduce electric power bills and lower the area’s carbon footprint.
Council will be holding information sessions where ZEN, the company endorsed to roll out the program will present options available to you. The information sessions, located in Council Chambers in the Civic Centre will be held on the following dates:
Thursday March 3rd from 3.00pm through to 7.00pm
Tuesday March 15th from 3.00pm through to 7.00pm
Friday April 1st from 12.00noon to 2.00pm (Business Session)
Wednesday May 4th from 3.00pm through to 7.00pm.
Don’t forget, you can also see all things solar and water conservation oriented on April 2nd and 3rd @ Energy Fair, Warland Reserve 12.00noon to 4.00pm Saturday and 10.00am to 4.00pm Sunday (www.energyfair.com.au).
I am delighted that the LGA has enabled this broader reach so that additional ratepayers might enjoy a reduction in energy bills and the ecological benefits that accrue to us all.
Yours faithfully,
Graham Philp
Mayor
Update September 2010
State Government Raises PVP feed in tariff to 54cents per kWh
The City of Victor Harbor’s first bulk retrofit of solar panels, C-PREP is now complete. Over 700 ratepayers across four Fleurieu councils installed minimum solar panel sets of 1.05kWh (6-8 panels) with many taking the opportunity to install much larger systems.
A further 1,000 ratepayers in other councils as far afield as Barossa and Light also joined the program just before the Federal Government ended it three weeks prematurely in June 2009. While C-PREP involved approximately 1,800 ratepayers all told, this site concentrates on the Fleurieu and KI areas.
The Fleurieu and KI now save at least 1,584 tons of carbon gas annually. This number more than doubles when C-PREP installations in other councils are added. Most installations save ratepayers at least a quarter on their energy bills and in many instances generate income from the state net feed-in tariff of 44cents per kWh. This tariff was raised to 54cents per kWh in August 2010. Some energy distributors pay a few cents more so check with your energy supplier. The list of economic benefits can be seen in detail under the Economic Results heading.
So successful has the program been that the Local Government Authority (LGA) launched a similar program in May this year acknowledging Victor Harbor's C-PREP as the model. The LGA program will run for one year across six metropolitan councils.
The Regional Development Authority (RDA) has approached the City of Victor Harbor with the view to running a second solar retrofit program. The RDA's initial work may also see a "smart energy" project get under way on Kangaroo Island.
Update July 2010
The City of Victor Harbor’s first bulk retrofit of solar panels, C-PREP is now complete. Some 800 ratepayers across four Fleurieu councils installed minimum solar panel sets of 1.05kWh (6-8 panels) with many taking the opportunity to install much larger systems.
A further 1,000 ratepayers in other councils as far afield as Barossa and Light also joined the program just before the Federal Government ended it three weeks prematurely in June 2009. While C-PREP involved approximately 1,800 ratepayers all told, this site concentrates on the Fleurieu and KI areas.
The Fleurieu and KI now save at least 1,700 tons of carbon gas annually. This number more than doubles when C-PREP installations in other councils are added. Most installations save ratepayers at least a quarter on their energy bills and in many instances generate income from the state net feed-in tariff of 44cents per kWh. The list of economic benefits can be seen in detail under the Economic Results heading.
So successful has the program been that the Local Government Authority (LGA) launched a similar program in May this year acknowledging Victor Harbor's C-PREP as the model. The LGA program will run for one year across six metropolitan councils.
The Regional Development Authority (RDA) has approached the City of Victor Harbor with the view to running a second solar retrofit program. The RDA's initial work may also see a "smart energy" project get under way on Kangaroo Island.
Update 17.02.2010
All the final registration fee invoices of $75.00 have been sent out to those ratepayers who signed up under the C-PREP program. There will be a few people who did not proceed or went with other suppliers, so if there is any ambiguity please ring Roy at the Council on 8551 0558.
The registration fee is dedicated to the ongoing renewable energy research and development with the University of Adelaide. An update of progress can be seen under C-PREP Ongoing R&D .
Update 6.11.2009
The Local Government Authority (LGA) has taken a firm interest in Victor Harbor's C-PREP solar panel retrofit program. So much so they have organized a one day forum for all SA Councils to be held on November 26th 2009.
The day long event will feature how councils and their ratepayers can lower energy bills and simultaneously reduce their carbon footprint.
Experts in solar, wind and bio energy methods will outline the best available options while those that have initiated such programs will cover job and product creation in this new power industry.
Roy Ramage
Economic Development Officer
City of Victor Harbor
