Solar in Bundaberg leads Australia’s top suburbs.

Posted on May 8, 2018 by Mike — No Comments ↓

Solar in Bundaberg leads Australian suburbs for PV solar update as aerial imagery company Nearmap are reporting that last year 1078MW of rooftop solar systems were installed across Australia. Seven of the top ten suburbs are in Queensland and the other three are in Western Australia – with a huge bump in the number of rural and coastal towns installing more solar power systems than ever before.

Solar in Bundaberg

We’ve seen quite a lot of work done in Bundaberg so it’s no surprise to see they are the biggest suburb in Australia with the highest solar power uptake. Walking around you can see systems on many roofs and Stockland are installing a solar system on top of their Bundaberg shopping centre.

Nearmap executive Shane Preston discussed how they were able to use their software to have a visual on how much the landscape has changed, and how we will see even more as the technology/price continues to move in the right direction. Mr. Preston noted that using technology like Nearmap allow you to have a clearer look on how much solar is actually being installed in households Australia wide:

“But when you look at it from the air, you can observe in incredible detail the renewable energy uptake occurring across our country,’’ he said.

“As the benefits of renewable energies like solar continue to surface, we can expect to see more demand for installations,’’ he continued, in comments made to news.com.au.

Nearmap (visit their website here) worked with the Clean Energy Regulator (CER) to come up with the statistics (in a sense – as per Your Mortgage, Nearmap flew over 88% of the population in urbanised areas six times in the last year to help document Australia’s solar revolution) – so even though the statistics come from the CER they’ve been helped along by Nearmap’s great service.

Australia’s Biggest Solar Suburbs

Bundaberg North – 11,756
Erskine – 11,409
Nikenbah – 10,517
Caloundra – 9308
Toowoomba – 8580
Hocking – 8416
Pacific Pines – 7724
Mackay – 7263
Raceview – 7295
Canning Vale – 7116

Solar Energy Australia Statistics – 2017

Posted on March 6, 2018 by Mike — No Comments ↓

Solar Energy Australia Statistics – The Clean Energy Regulator released their report on solar power uptake in Australia in 2017. A record 3.5m solar panels were installed on rooftops last year, with their combined output of 1057MW around the same as a mid-sized coal-fired power station.

Solar Energy Australia Statistics

Small-Scale Renewable Energy in Australia 2016 – 2017(source: cleanenergyregulator.gov.au)

The 1057MW was installed by Australian homes and businesses in 2017, mostly from rooftop solar. That’s the equivalent of 9,500 solar panels being installed in Australia every day of 2017! Commercial solar had a huge influx of big solar systems installed which helped with the numbers. Here are some of the many businesses that installed solar power in 2017:

Clean Energy Regulator Executive General Manager Mark Williamson was pleased to see the solar uptake in all industries:

“We are seeing a wide cross-section of Australians – households, community centres, schools, and small businesses – receiving incentives under the small-scale renewable energy scheme,” Williamson said.

“Our data shows consumers are embracing renewable energy to take control of their electricity bills” Williams said on the CER website.

According to Wikipedia, as of December 2017, Australia had over 7,024 MW of installed photovoltaic (PV) solar power. The CER report shows that in 2017 there was a 41% increase in installed renewable energy capacity compared to 2016. Queensland had the most solar panels installed (295MW), and the ACT showed the greatest annual increase – showing a massive 57% change from its 2016 figures. The CER report also showed that the average solar system size in Australia has increased by 200% – from 3kW to 6kw – as prices continue to decrease and technology increases rapidly.

The small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme which created financial incentives for homes and small businesses to install small scale renewable energy systems has obviously had the desired effect. It’ll be interesting to see how 2018 fares as it’s already off to a roaring start.

Non-compliant solar panels from Euro Solar

Posted on August 14, 2017 by Mike — 1 Comment ↓

Australia’s biggest seller of solar panels, Euro Solar, have been identified by the Clean Energy Regulator for installing non-compliant solar panels and claiming STCs from them. To qualify for the STC system, the panels need to be approved and validated by the Clean Energy Council – and these hadn’t.

About the Non-Compliant Solar Panels

An investigation by the Clean Energy Regulator (CER) found that Euro Solar claimed STCs (small-scale technology certificates) for 10 different rooftop PV solar installs despite using non-compliant panels. According to RenewEconomy, this was 1,058 STCs with a value of approximately $40,000. They’ve been asked to surrender the claimed STCs or replace the offending modules.

The next step, according to the CER website, is for P&N to validate serial numbers on solar modules for 78 installations within the next 12 months, and an additional 100 installations within 18 months. The relevant installations have already been flagged by the CER.

You can read more about the CER’s ‘current enforceable undertakings’ by clicking this link.

Clean Energy Regulator - Non-Compliant Solar Panels — Clean Energy Regulator goes after non-compliant solar panels (source: cleanenergyregulator.gov.au)

Euro Solar’s previous problems

A ‘winding-up’ order was issued to Euro Solar’s parent company, “P & N NSW Pty Ltd” back in June – which was dismissed by Euro Solar as a “miscommunication”, according to One Step Off The Grid. Euro Solar’s claims appeared to be substantiated and they also produced a notice for their website indicating that they “remain focussed and committed to provide our customers with a high level of service and at a cost-effective price.” A post about the situation has been deleted from Renew Economy’s website as well, so it appears this was an erroneously sent ‘winding-up order’.

This comes on the back of Euro Solar being fined $145,000 in 2014 for making false and misleading representations, namely that their Chinese made solar panels were Australian, and also for publishing fake video testimonials on Youtube and fake written testimonials on its website.

You can click here to view the press release from the Federal Court.

The fake testimonials and misleading representations about their solar panels were made online, in newspapers and on TV between November 2012 and September 2013. According to the court ruling, they were brought to the ACCC’s attention by competing businesses – for example Solar Choice published an article about the fine in January 2014 where they advised they wrote to a consumer advocate organisation about Euro Solar’s advertising.

It’s good to see the industry self-regulating like this, when misleading information can harm solar energy and the Australian solar power industry as a whole. However, if something does happen to Euro Solar, what will become of warranties and repair? This goes to show it can be worth paying a few extra dollars to invest in quality panels from a reputable installer – the recent sharp drop in small scale renewable energy certificates has left a lot of installers who are on wafer thin margins out in the cold (or awfully close). Solar panels are a long term investment – make sure you do your due diligence before committing to a certain installer or brand!

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Solar in Bundaberg leads Australia’s top suburbs.