Go Solar. Go Lok, Rob and Alysha+! Thanks Theatre Royal for being a major partner of MASH+ and the great attitude! And BTW, Lok says that the Theatre Royal will be getting solar panels pretty soon. Yay!
Cantwell Property Castlemaine lends support to MASH+
The Hub Foundation is pleased to have Cantwell Property Castlemaine on board as one of its major partners for MASH+, Mount Alexander Solar Homes, the solar bulk-buy offer for households in Mt Alexander Shire and nearby areas.
Genevieve Cantwell says, “Many home buyers see solar panels as a real plus point when viewing potential properties. We are glad to support MASH+ because rooftop solar panels are a win-win for everyone.”
Neil Barrett, manager of The Hub Foundation says, “Cantwell Property Castlemaine is already a great advocate of solar with the 5Kw system on the roof of their office on Barker Street. We are delighted that they are helping to raise awareness of MASH+.”
Note: MASH+ partners contribute by publicising the project in their offices, shops, websites and newsletters. They do not make financial contributions.
Mayor launches new solar panels project in Shire
Mount Alexander Shire Mayor, Cr Michael Redden, has launched a new solar power project, Mount Alexander Solar Homes, or MASH+. MASH+ is a bulk-buy arrangement for local households in Mount Alexander Shire and nearby areas, using high quality solar panels and inverters, heavily discounted prices and as much local involvement as possible.
According to Cr Redden “We are supporting this initiative because we want to help all households in our Shire benefit from the financial benefits of going solar and as a Shire we want to help cut our CO2 emissions. We are pleased to support another not-for-profit solar initiative in our Shire. Climate change is a pressing concern for everyone and the more that we can do to address it, the better.”
The project has been organised by The Hub Foundation, a not-for-profit company which is associated with the Hub office and restaurant building in Castlemaine.
Hub Foundation manager, Neil Barrett, says he decided it was a great time to promote solar for five reasons. “Prices for solar panels have come down enormously over the past few years, people want solar but don’t trust the many people calling them on the phone, the technology is well and truly proven, the government may take away the subsidy within a few months and, above all, the planet needs it.
“And there’s a sixth reason also”, says Barrett: “You can earn a higher rate of return on your money than you do from almost any other investment. That’s because the savings on your power bills are so high and the cost of the panels so low.
“The MASH+ project is very local. We’re working with the highly respected electrical contractor, Stephen Breheny. Stephen and his staff have done over 400 solar installations in the Shire over the past six years and they’re widely respected.
“Currently 26% of the Shire’s houses have solar panels. We’re hoping to raise this to 36% which would put us up there amongst the nation’s leading solar regions.
On the 10th and 16th of July the Foundation will be holding information sessions in Castlemaine, Campbells Creek and Maldon, for interested people.
And the plus in MASH+? That’s there to tell you it’s not just about solar power. As part of the price, participants in the project also get an energy assessment and a voucher for an energy efficiency kit from a local supplier.
For more information, call Neil Barrett on 0455 589 065 or visit hubfoundation.org.au
The solar boom
The global solar industry is booming, with an average growth rate of around 20% over the past four years. Solar is now a significant part of the global energy supply here and overseas. In South Australia, 25% of homes are now powered by solar, with an average size of 4.8Kw or around 25-30 panels per house (see table). In Queensland it’s around 22% of homes whilst in Victoria it’s 10%. Remarkably in our Shire, the penetration is already 26%.
Solar PV in Australia, 2013
State/Territory |
# PV Systems |
Capacity (MW) |
% dwellings with solar power |
| ACT | 14,000 | 38 | 10 |
| NSW | 252,000 | 633 | 10 |
| NT | 3,000 | 11 | 4 |
| SA | 160,000 | 450 | 25 |
| TAS | 18,000 | 55 | 9 |
| VIC | 201,000 | 532 | 10 |
| WA | 149,000 | 334 | 18 |
| National | 1,157,000 | 3,039 | 14 |
| Mount Alexander Shire | 2250 | 6 (approx) | 26 |
Source: Renew Economy 4th Dec 2013; Powercor, personal communication, 28th March 2014
Solar PV is also helping to stabilise our energy system. During the heatwaves of January 2014, it supplied around 6% of demand, thereby allowing the electricity retailers to avoid blackouts.
Government rebates and feed-in tariffs have certainly helped fuel the boom, developments in solar technology have also played a large part: in recent years the actual cost of solar pv has fallen by around 80%. 10 years ago, the cost of solar was over $10 per watt. Today, it’s much less than $2 per watt. The great bulk of the decrease has taken place in the last 2-3 years.
Already, for a new power station, solar is competitive with fossil fuels without any subsidy at all. That’s highly significant as the playing field is not a level one: solar’s main competitor, coal, is still not paying the cost of its pollution.
Not surprisingly, the solar boom has come at a cost to the electricity generators and the coal companies. Solar has actually helped to cause the level of demand for fossil fuel-based electricity to fall which has in turn resulted in a fall in the wholesale price of electricity and a lower demand for coal.
Because solar’s peak production takes place during peak consumption hours, the time when the big generators make most profits, the boom has been more damaging to the generators’ business than might have been imagined. As a result, the generators and the coal companies are doing everything they can to stop the progress of solar and other renewable forms of energy. And sadly, in Australia at present they have the federal government and most state governments on their side.
Ultimately, however, most independent energy experts believe that big energy will go the way of letters, film developing and over- the-counter banking. The forces involved are too strong to be held back for long as the prices of solar panels and the batteries which will store energy will continue to fall.
Above all, solar is helping us cut our emissions of CO2. Each 2Kw rooftop solar system in Castlemaine cuts CO2 emissions by over 2 tonnes pa.
The Renewable Energy Target
Australia has had a renewable energy target for around 13 years. The first very limited target of 9500GWh was introduced by the Howard government in 2001. A much higher target of 41,000GWh was introduced by the Labour government in 2010. This mandatory target enables the market to put a value on Small-scale Technology Certificates, or STCs.
At present, 1kW of panels earns 17 STCs at around $31 each. This is a significant part of the overall solar price. STCs in fact make up around one third of the solar price in our bulk buy scheme. So if the Renewable Energy Target is abolished later in 2014, as now seems likely, the price of solar could rise by that percentage.
It therefore makes sense to buy now rather than wait until the RET is abolished or weakened.
The challenge of climate change
Over 97% of scientists researching and publishing papers on climate change believe there is very strong evidence that humans are largely responsible for the increase in temperature over the past 100 years. They are supported by virtually all governments and scientific organisations around the world. The latest IPPC report (March 2014) makes it clear that climate change is already having adverse effects by causing extreme weather events, bushfires, floods and droughts.
If we are to keep the temperature increase within two degrees, we must leave most of the world’s fossil fuel reserves in the ground. If we don’t do this, according to the UN body, the IPCC, we could face increases of up to six degrees by the end of the century. This would make life on earth, as we know it, virtually impossible.
It is therefore vital that we conserve energy and develop renewable forms of energy, in particular solar, wind, bioenergy and geothermal.
The International Energy Agency which was once a strong promoter of fossil fuels has in recent years put its weight behind renewables. In fact, the Agency now argues that over two thirds of the existing reserves of fossil fuels must be left in the ground if we are to have a chance of avoiding serious climate change.
The population of Mount Alexander Shire is responsible for around 150,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year. We should be aiming to reduce this markedly by 2020 to close to zero by 2050. To do this we need to start now.
Clearly, the technology is available. Wind power has been used for many decades as has solar pv which was first developed for the US space program in the 1950s. All that is needed is the political will of governments and/or the individual and community will of ordinary citizens.
If governments fail us, we can step into the breach. We can campaign, we can protest and perhaps above all, we can put our own houses in order by cutting our energy use and by installing renewable energy systems.
Photo credit: Deanna Rae Neville
Further reading:
‘How Conservative is the Abbott government’s climate change plan?‘, The Saturday Paper, March 15 2014
‘IPCC climate change report: Human role in global warming now even clearer‘, ABC News, 28 September 2013