Victoria

The Victorian Labor Government announced in August last year a $1.3 billion “Solar Homes” package to assist homeowners in installing solar PV systems. The scheme will be offered to 770,000 Victorian households for the next 10 years and is in addition to the Federal STC ‘rebate’.

With an electricity sector policy vacuum on a federal level, and grid constraints facing large scale PV project developers, there are ample reasons to be pessimistic about Australia’s solar-fueled energy transition. Indigo Power Co-founder Cam Klose says that many promising developments are rather taking place on the ‘distributed’ level and beyond the big cities – with Yackandandah leading the way.

The Smart Energy Council and Solar Cutters assembled a group of installers to send the message that the Solar Homes rebate scheme is damaging the Victorian solar sector today. The rally was also supported by the Clean Energy Council (CEC), which has called for the Solar Homes rebate to be reduced, and the monthly installation cap ended.

The Victorian Government has developed new guidelines in an effort to better direct the location, design and assessment of large-scale solar projects in Victoria. The new guidelines are an attempt to ensure future large-scale solar PV projects are more easily accessible to the electricity transmission network.

The Smart Energy Council (SEC) promised action, and it isn’t bluffing. This Thursday, 25 July at 10:30am the Victorian solar community will rally on the steps of Victoria Parliament House. “The Victorian Government Don’t Get It!” goes the cry as solar workers lose their jobs and companies close in the aftermath of the Victorian Government’s Solar Homes Program, a sad lesson in the law of unintended consequences. 

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has laid out a $370 million plan for network upgrades in Western Victoria which would deliver almost double the benefit to both energy consumers and energy producers. However, the proposal has provoked federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor’s attack on the state’s renewable energy target.

With 128 MWp, Numurkah is the largest operating solar farm in Victoria. The project developed by French renewable energy producer Neoen has a major supply contract secured with the Laverton Steelworks and is one of two solar farms supplying 100% renewable energy to offset Melbourne’s entire tram network.

The Solar Price Index for July 2019 as published monthly by Solar Choice noted a 13% rise in residential solar prices in Victoria following the re-opened rebate scheme being snapped up in the first 3 days.

The fallout of Victoria’s Solar Homes Program is verging on a “bloodbath” in the words of the Smart Energy Council (SEC) CEO John Grimes, who spoke at length in a SEC Webinar featuring over 200 Victorian solar industry actors about the adverse impacts of the program for both the industry and consumers. The SEC is now readying for action.

Following similar calls from other industry bodies, the Clean Energy Council has urged the Victorian government to review its landmark Solar Homes Program and warned about the serious effects its dynamics has on the industry.