People’s Power Station in Australia

Australia has been a truly remarkable success story for solar energy over the last 5 years. The country has seen more than a million homes comprising of 10% of the population, install solar systems on their houses. The federal government and state governments have
both chipped in with feed in tariffs and other subsidies to lower the capital barriers for solar installations. Though government across Australia have substantially reduced the feed in tariffs, solar installations continue to grow. The government of Canberra itself targets to achieve 1 million solar homes in the province, with around 100,000 solar home installations.

Power utilities in Australia have been facing a tough time as distributed solar rooftop systems or “people’s power stations” continuously grow in popularity. More and more power is being generated by the people leading to less demand for power from the utilities and adding strain to the transmission grid. Unlike the European countries, Australia has focused more on rooftop solar generation than ground mounted large solar farms. The company has seen the rise of a large ecosystem of solar installers who are now competing fiercely leading to more choices and lower costs for end consumers.

Australia’s solar boom can be attributed to the following factors:

1)     High solar radiation across the country

2)     Supportive state and federal government programs

3)     The price crash in solar panels due to Chinese overproduction.

It should be noted that Australia has not seen the rise of a strong manufacturing industry with most of the small solar module plants closing in the country. However, the country has benefited due to the low cost of solar panels from China. India might learn some lessons from Australia, as the country has plotted a successful solar future based on distributed rooftop solar generation which spreads the benefit net wider.

Advantages of Rooftop Solar over Ground Mounted Solar

1) Long Delays in Permitting, Environment Clearance, Land Siting – Large Solar Farms have to go through a myriad of regulations and clearances. There have also been instances of lawsuits against solar thermal and solar PV plants in California by wildlife and environmental groups as well as local Indian tribes.

2) Electricity Transmission Costs – Grid Connection leads to additional costs for solar farms, while rooftop solar can use existing transmission infrastructure.