PHOTON International The Photovoltaic Magazine

Australian PV Roadmap expected to push on-grid systems

Following a Sept. 3 workshop, the consultant hired to head the development plans for a federally-funded Australian PV roadmap predicts the final report will push on-grid PV.

David Crossley, managing director of the renewable energy consultancy Energy Futures Australia Pty Ltd. (EFA), says a major reason for the roadmap is that Australia's off-grid market, the main source of PV sales, is not large enough to sustain local manufacture of modules. »I would be very surprised if [the final report] didn't say that we need to increase the on-grid market."« According to the International Energy Agency's Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme (IEA PVPS), 86 percent of the 5.6 MW of PV installed in Australia in 2002 was off-grid. As of Dec. 2002, Australia had a total of 39.1 MW of installed PV.

The initial workshop recommended that the government start a $1 AUD (65¢ USD) per kWh feed-in tariff. It also identified a goal of a 100 MW Australian unsubsidized PV market annually with combined domestic and export sales of $1.5 billion AUS ($971 million USD) by 2010, increasing to an optimistic $200 billion AUS ($130 billion USD) by 2030.

The workshop members were planning to hold regional consultations around the country in September with industry representatives, government officials, and end-users. A draft document is expected by mid-October, with a final version to be finished by early December. But AusIndustry, the business agency of the Department of Interior, Tourism, and Resources, which awarded the roadmap grant to the Australian Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE) in August, could delay publication of the findings until March, depending on »ministerial availability,« says Crossley. And, he adds, the limited funding – $145,000 AUD ($94,000 USD) – also means the report will not have much original analysis. Instead it will be based largely on existing reports and studies.