Victoria gets solar power feed-in scheme

The Victorian government recently passed the Premium Feed-in Tariff legislation, paving the way for consumers who install solar panels to receive financial credits for energy they supply back into the grid from energy they generate.

Energy and Resources Minister Peter Batchelor announced that, under the Electricity Industry Amendment (Premium Solar Feed-In Tariff) legislation 2009, Victorians would soon receive extra support to help repay the costs of solar panel installation.  “The government is taking action to stimulate the use of renewable energy and create jobs by helping Victorians reduce their individual carbon footprint through the most generous premium feed-in tariff scheme in the country," he said.

“Our scheme will mean householders with solar panels on their roof will receive 60 cents credit per kWh for energy fed back into the grid within that year. This is about four times the current cost of electricity in Victoria.

“We have listened to responsible environment groups and included community organisations and small businesses with energy consumption less than 100 MWh a year in the scheme.

“The size of the solar panels has also been increased so householders, community groups and small businesses with systems up to 5 kW can take part in the scheme. This covers 99% of systems installed in Victoria. It is the only state to have passed through parliament a 60 cents per kWh scheme.”

Batchelor said the government’s premium feed-in tariff scheme would help Victorian householders repay the cost of installing average-sized solar panels within about 10 years: “Through our scheme, an average Victorian household with a 1.5 kW photovoltaic system will get around $300 off their power bill for energy sold back into the grid. This is on top of about $300 in savings Victorian households with solar systems will receive by using the electricity these systems produce in their own home."

Two electricity retailers — Origin and AGL — have announced they will provide cash or rollover credits after 12 months under the scheme.

Batchelor said a premium feed-in tariff was just part of an array of government initiatives designed to promote renewable energy in Victoria: “We are providing up to $100 million to develop a large scale solar power station, giving $72 million to support large-scale, renewable energy demonstration projects and have introduced the Victorian Renewable Energy Target which has attracted over $2 billion of investment and created over 2000 jobs.”