News In The Solar Industry

Changes to the SA Solar Feed-In Scheme

On the 31st of August 2010, the Premier and Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change, the Hon Mike Rann, announced the Government’s decision to make a number of changes to the scheme as a result of the review.

The intended changes to the scheme aim to increase the benefits to solar customers while limiting the total cost of the scheme to all customers in the state.

At a glance, the Government has decided to:

• Increase the bonus, from 44 cents to 54 cents per kilowatt hour;
• Obligate retailers who choose to contract with solar customers to pay a minimum rate for the power that they receive from the owners of solar panels;
• Limit eligibility for payment of the bonus to the first 45 kilowatt hours exported to the grid per day;
• Limit eligibility to one generator per customer or entity;
• Specifically exclude generators operated primarily for the purpose of generating a profit from the scheme; and
• Close the scheme to new connections when an installed capacity of 60MW is reached.

The changes will not result in any diminished benefit for existing solar customers. However, intending purchasers of solar systems need to be aware that, subject to the passing of the legislation, all customers that receive permission to connect for their solar system from ETSA Utilities after the announcement on the 31st of August 2010 will be subject to the new eligibility criteria. Further information, including a detailed fact sheet and the consultant’s report, is available at http://www.climatechange.sa.gov.au

More recently, the Australian Government announced that the Solar Credits rebate will be reduced starting July 2011. The Feed in Tariff scheme will also be closed to any new installations after total installed capacity in SA reaches 60 megawatts, which is expected to be around the end of 2011.This is compared with a guaranteed tariff until 2028 for systems (that meet the eligibility criteria) installed before that time.