Markets

A new partnership is looking to introduce 10-year solar leases to WA. By targeting new builds and housing developments and halving the standard lease duration, the partnership aims to make solar leases attractive – where previously they have failed to gain traction.

In anticipation of a more detailed presentation of the scheme, Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg used the opportunity of the speech to the National Press Club to present the National Energy Guarantee as the best possible option to ensure reliability of supply, describing it as “technology neutral”. Amid mounting criticism leveled by retailers, analysts and leading developers of battery storage, few signs of a national consensus on the proposed NEG are emerging.

A new report drafted by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the Frankfurt School-UNEP Collaborating Centre shows that global solar energy investments overshadowed all other forms of electricity generation in 2017. China is leading the pack of the world’s largest renewables investors, followed by Australia, Mexico and Sweden.

Shell’s new report shows a world where solar meets the largest portion of primary energy demand as soon as 2050.

‘Unprecedented challenge’ for fossil fuels as low LCOE for solar and wind power, allied to tumbling storage costs, sees renewables claim larger share of bulk and dispatchable generation while adding vital flexibility to global energy mix.

GTM Research and SEIA’s final report on the solar market in 2017 shows both the struggle of the residential solar market, as well as a larger than anticipated fall in utility-scale volumes, leading to a 30% contraction overall.

SA Liberal leader, and potential premier, Steven Marshall has been ordered to print a retraction for his campaign claim that the Liberal Energy Solution will save South Australians more than $300 per household.

The Grattan Institute has warned that surging small-scale solar system installations are depressing midday wholesale electricity prices – giving reason for subsidies to be cut and putting downward pressure of residential PV FITs. Green Energy Markets’ Tristan Edis says the level of solar generation is not yet a problem, and that simple solutions to absorb solar energy during the day are at hand.

Electricity retailer Powershop is dropping the rates for its Victorian customers by 5%, as it adds “a diverse set of renewable generation” to its portfolio. Powershop is the retail arms of New Zealand-based utility Meridian Energy.

Australia’s large-scale and rooftop solar PV sectors now employ over 10,000 people. The findings were published today in Green Energy Market’s Renewable Energy Index for January 2018.