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This is a transcript from an interview on ABC Australia talks. If only we could harness the power of the sun all our energy problems would be solved. It seems like we have been hearing this for decades, yet solar is still a big player in the energy market and today we want to know can solar deliver on its promise. If a recent issue of New Scientist Magazine is to be believed, Then solar may, just may have turned a corner. Technology policy and cost might finally be coming into alignment, and there was a modest step in the solar direction yesterday when it was revealed that a seven million dollar solar power station would be built in the outback town of Coober Pedy. That announcement was timed to coincide with the third solar cities congress in Adelaide which drew together some of the worlds leading authorities in the subject and you’ll hear from three of them in just a moment. But have you made the big investment and converted to solar for hot water or feeding power into the grid or maybe you are off the grid all together. Would you be willing to pay more for renewable solar energy if it was available to you? Adelaide has been host this week to the third international solar cities congress. Brook Miller was one of the 90 speakers from 30 countries who attended. She is regional director of BP Solar Australasia, currently Australia’s largest producer of PV Cells, (Photovoltaic cells), Herbert Girardet was keynote speaker at the congress. Herbert is from Bristol in the UK and is a social anthropologist and cultural ecologist as well as a writer and film maker. And Peter Droege is an urban designer and currently the chair of the world council for renewable energy Asia Pacific. His most recent book is “The Renewable City”. Interviewer: Herbert. Is solar energy finally ready to deliver big time? Herbert: I think major changes have occurred in the last few years and that’s partly because policy has driven the change and that’s particularly in Europe and most particularly in Germany and Spain. Those two countries have introduced policies to make it cost effective to invest in a solar roof on your house. Interviewer: You mean subsidies when you say policies? Herbert: Not subsidies. Basically if you have a solar roof on your house in Germany, you can sell the electricity that you produce back to the grid at four times the price of a conventional power station. That makes it possible for you to get your money back for your investment in about 12 years and that has transformed prospects there. You have enormous increases in the uptake of renewable energy as a result of that and you have small city’s such Freiburg in Southern Germany with around 200000 people that have more solar roofs than in the whole of the United Kingdom that have more than 60 Million people simply because of the policy change that has taken place. It isn’t the state that has to pay for it, it is the consumer that has to pay an ever so slightly higher price for the electricity. But because the over all percentage of the electricity coming from renewables is still relatively small, the price difference to the average consumer is very very small indeed only about 1.2 Euros per month. Interviewer: You have talked about Germany; one would have thought that Australia would be having been in an even better position to capitalise on solar power. Are the sorts of policy initiatives that you have just referred to there in Germany, would they make sense here in Australia? Herbert: Well in South Australia there is only a two to one ratio, in other words you get twice as much for the electricity itself on the grid, but it’s a net system, in other words only the amount you actually sell to the grid you get extra money for where as most of the electricity is actually used in the house here in Australia. So it’s not a major price advantage and it won’t certainly lead to the massive breakthrough that you see in Germany. I believe in other parts of Australia similar but more effective legislation is about to be introduced as well. Interviewer: But what you are saying is that more generous policy would lead to much higher uptake. Herbert: Yes absolutely. And simultaneously we are seeing dramatic policy break throughs which for many years PV Cells were really almost a by-product of the semiconductor in Australia. The reality is that the semiconductors used in order to produce PV Cells was very expensive where as now production break throughs have occurred that makes it much cheaper. Now dozens of company’s world wide are producing silicon especially for PV Cells which will really make the price go down dramatically and that’s the first major change. The second change is that other technology’s that do not rely on silicon are now reaching breakthrough point. Interviewer: Peter Droeger, you were reported in the press as saying the congress in Adelaide was in danger of essentially green washing. Is that because of out side of the congress in the real world so to speak nothing much is changing in your view? Peter: Well the fact of the matter is that Australia is the world’s largest solar resource country it is capable of providing itself with 100% solar power for electricity and that’s including transport. You can run cars on electricity easily. The fact of the matter is also 30 years ago Australia was one of the leading solar countries and it is not so much that we have now technological breakthroughs that are all that new, the technology has existed for a long time, what we do have is a very aggressive (maybe regressive) and fossil fuel friendly policy environment both on the national and state levels that in fact are keeping solar relatively expensive. So it’s not actually that expensive if you moved all the fossil fuel subsidies which in Australia are about a billion dollars annually, solar would already be on par and competitive without any support. Interviewer: It appears that it’s business as usual as far as many as the large corporations are concerned. We have talked about this topic so many times just in the 15 years or so that Australia talks has been on air solar seems to have had so many false dawns. Have expectations perhaps been too high? Peter: I don’t think expectations have been too high, I think the fundamental difference between the industries is partly to blame, the fossil fuels and the nuclear industry of the countries is a very powerful and organised machinery that is capable of lobbying. The renewable energy industry virtually doesn’t exist because you have such a wide range of different technologies and systems and ways of converting where as in fact free energy into consumer products is fundamentally a different economic structure, so the renewable is at a losing proposition but what of course has happened in the last 10 years visible on everyone’s TV screens is climate change and this threat of the whole system falling apart due to the vetasins of various kinds of policy makers and their fossil fuel supporters. And the other issue that no body talks about seriously and it is a much more imminent risk to the world economy is the fossil fuel peek and its not just oil, it’s also natural gas and eventually other fossil and nuclear sources. These are massive threats to our economy and essentially completely ignored in the public policy environment.
Article Source: http://www.global-warming.com.au
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