The state’s peak environment group says the solar bonus scheme announced today will provide a boost for the solar industry, but it means that NSW has missed an opportunity to be Australia's leading solar state.
“The solar bonus scheme will provide a boost for the solar industry, but doesn't go far enough and means that NSW has missed an opportunity to be Australia's leading solar state,” Nature Conservation Council of NSW executive director Cate Faehrmann said today.
“Creating a gross feed-in tariff would have provided a massive injection of renewable energy investment in NSW and created a significant number of jobs.
“A scheme that would have paid households for every bit of the green energy their home solar systems produced would have ensured more people took up the scheme.
“This decision will see more people installing solar panels on their homes, but the uptake will be slower than if the government made the decision to reimburse them for all the green electricity their system produced.
"We urge the government to ensure the scheme covers micro-wind generation as well as solar panels.
“The more solar panels we have on rooftops around Sydney, the more pressure will be eased on the electricity system during peak periods on the hottest days. The government should be doing everything it can to encourage people to install systems to ease the load on the electricity network.
“Installing solar panels on your roof is a costly investment. The only way we're going to see massive take-up is by householders seeing a return on that investment sooner rather than later,” Ms Faehrmann said.
