Storm Clouds over Climate Change Efforts

The election of the Federal Liberal Coalition has emboldened traditional energy suppliers in a backlash against Solar and other renewable energies.
Given that 1 million households have installed rooftop solar, this smacks of powerful entrenched interests defending their bottom line (investment in $$ and profits) ahead of environmental benefits (no surprises there), innovation, cost competitiveness with new technologies (solar and wind) and the wish to pull back on policies that have led to this disruptive change.
As the debate regarding subsidizing the car industry is coming to a head with the new government, so too should the debate regarding subsidizing the coal industry and entrenched energy suppliers.
Yesterdays Renew Economy reported that a South Australian Network Operator intends to cancel any Feed in Tariff's if a household solar supplier installs a fuel cell or battery storage. Leaving aside whether there would be much electricity to feed in if you have battery storage, the move further entrenches the feeling Small Scale Solar Suppliers, like myself, have that we are really not wanted by our major electrical suppliers.

As the article puts it - "Given that the vast majority of South Australian solar households are currently on some type of FIT, this policy effectively wipes out the cost effectiveness of using storage in South Australia for the time being.  Intriguingly, only a few weeks ago some Californian distributors used the same blocking tactics and refused to connect some customers who had purchased solar with storage systems although fortunately, only a  week later new regulations were introduced that mandated the introduction of storage.

It is somewhat telling that in their own industry briefing SA Power Networks acknowledge that “..as customers and the Industry seek the next technological innovation to reduce electricity demand and reliance on conventional electricity distribution networks, the emergence of fuel cells and battery storage systems is starting to gain momentum”. 

And I thought there were some limits on anti-competitive behaviour on the part of monopolies. That Australia, with huge amounts of sunlight would welcome people being responsible for their use of electricity and feed the excess into the grid for the benefit of their neighbours, thus improving the cost situation in peak times such as a hot summer day. Extending this advantage to solar storage is just throwing more dust into the eyes of the naysayers who said solar would not manage baseload power at an affordable rate so will be hard fought by all involved.

But small people such as myself are relatively powerless unless we lobby governments, hence Solar Citizens. As the Renew Economy puts it:

“Solar consumers have the right to a fair contract with electricity retailers, and one that is not to their financial disadvantage, under the Australian Consumer Law.177 However, the structure of the electricity industry, and relationship between retailers and customers, means that solar consumers have limited market power. Where this constrains consumer choice or creates an uneven playing field for solar compared to other sources of electricity, governments may need to intervene to protect consumer rights” .

So are we waiting to hear from State and Federal Governments on this one? I fear a deafening silence.

One last thing. The Climate Change Authority's Draft Report on "Reducing Australia's Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Targets and Progress" is available here with accompanying information, webinars and press releases.