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In spite of cutbacks in various government programs that subsidized home solar installations, installations in Australia passed the half-million mark during 2011, according to the Clean Energy Council.
In a report released during the climate change talks at Durban, the council said its research found that there are now 35 times as many rooftop solar installations down under than there were in 2008. The council estimates that solar PV is now installed on around eight percent of Australian homes.
Solar, wind power and hydro-electricity now provide nearly 10 percent of Australia’s energy sector, the council found, with hydro getting a huge boost as the country’s long drought finally ended during 2010 and 2011.
While hydro-electricity is the biggest provider of renewable electricity in Australia, there is now more than 1,000 MW of solar power installed, delivering 680 GWh annually. Hydro delivers nearly 20,000 GWh annually, or 67 percent of renewable energy; wind power provides more than 6,400 GWh (21.9 percent); the bioenergy sector tips in 8.5 percent, or 2,500 GWh, and solar PV provides 2.3 percent of the sector.
Newer technologies, naturally, are only generating trivial amounts of power: solar thermal stations provide 4.4 GWh, marine (that is, wave power) provides .75 GWh, and geothermal provides half a GWh.
The rapid growth of the sector overall is making Clean Energy Council director Kate Thornton optimistic that Australia can meet its target of getting 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020.
However, it wasn’t all good news for the clean energy sector. The report also notes that the number of new large-scale projects – and the amount of power coming on-line from large projects – fell in 2010-2011. During 2009, nearly a gigawatt of new large-scale projects were commissioned, compared to just 400 MW in the latest period. Much of the new capacity added in 2010-2011 resulted from just four projects: three wind farms and a hydro upgrade.
The council attributes this subdued activity to a combination of investment uncertainty and a sluggish economy. The report states that “investors watched the lively political debate over a carbon price apprehensively”, and expresses the hope that with the legislation now in place, “policy stability [will] act as a catalyst for a wave of major investment in clean energy power plants”. ®
COMMENTS
Solar is shit
Yet again we can compare with a knackered 40 year old nuke Hinkley B which produced 6.4TWh last year.
Installation on 8% of Australian roof tops produced 680GWh so it would need solar PV on 75% of Australian roof tops to replace one small old knackered nuke, except of course it wouldn't replace one because solar only produces power during the day when it is sunny.
Regulations don't protect. They will endanger if you believe that they protect.
The regulations require isolation of the solar system from AC and DC side. Like this: http://www.sa.gov.au/subject/Water,+energy+and+environment/Energy/Energy+efficiency/Choosing+renewable+energy+for+your+home/Installing+a+solar+photovoltaic+%28PV%29+system
But that doesn't stop the PV from generating. Electricity is only isolated from the switch "down". PV panels are still "hot". And my statement was with respect to the roof space.
The regulations don't require e.g. a severing of interconnects between PV panels, from which substantial DC voltages are established and can easily deliver a lethal current, even on somewhat-overcast days.
@Michael Xion
Figured by taking the estimated total generated (which is the government figure) of 680 GWh and dividing it by the advertised generating capacity (of 1031 MW) multiplied by the number of hours in the year. You can use the figures from the article "there is now more than 1,000 MW of solar power installed, delivering 680 GWh annually." or from the government slide-show: http://www.cleanenergycouncil.org.au/dms/cec/reports/2011/Clean-Energy-Australia-Report-2011/Clean%20Energy%20Australia%20Report%202011.pdf
By the "miracles" of arithmetic, one can do it the other way around; divide the total amount generated (680 GWh) by the number of hours in a year and then divide by the advertised generating capacity.
I don't know where you get 1000MWh from. MWh is an amount of electrical energy. MW is electrical power; the rate at which energy is delivered.
You seem to have pulled figures out of the air ("The average daily generation from a 1kw [sic] system in Australia is 4KWh[sic].") and then jumbled up the numbers until they supported your argument. PV solar is nothing like "46% efficiency"; nor does it have a capacity factor or availability anywhere near that.
Even if one allowed for the previous year's total installed base (493 MW; which would ignore the 540 MW of "capacity" added over 9 months, and assumes that they only came online on August 31st) for comparison it doesn't reach 16% capacity. Nothing like the 46% you calculate.
Generating plant that is advertised as being 1000 MW should be able to deliver 1000 MW whenever 1000 MW is needed. It is clear that PV solar neither delivers that amount on average; and experience tells us that it's seldom anything like that on demand.
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