Source : Perth Now news
The Albanese government wants to cover the vast rooftops of industrial estates with solar panels, in a move that Energy Minister Chris Bowen says could save businesses tens of thousands on their energy bills.
Mr Bowen will on Wednesday ask frequently-flying attendees at his National Press Club address to think about what they see when they come into land.
“You might have noticed when you come in to land the prevalence of solar on residential rooftops – you’d see more solar panels than backyard pools,” he will say, according to advanced extracts of his speech.
“But have you also noticed that many warehouse and factory roofs are devoid of solar panels, or only have panels covering fairly small percentage of the roof space?”
That is the “missing middle” in Australia’s solar pursuit, or the gap between solar farms and house rooftop systems.
“Factories, warehouses, farming sheds and large industrial premises – big empty roof space ripe for solar generation,” Mr Bowen will say.
Drawing on data from a US-headquartered, international think tank, Mr Bowen puts residential solar at 22GW – enough energy to partially power 5.5 million homes.
Installing systems on commercial, industrial and agricultural rooftops could add an extra 80GW in solar energy.
“Today I announce that we are expanding the solar discount to include installations up to 1MW in size,” Mr Bowen will say, adding that it would “slash the installation costs … by around 20 per cent” and “immediately begin lowering the cost of energy”.
“Take for example the installation of a 250kW solar system on a medium sized enterprise, like a retailer.
“Upfront they could save about $68,000 on installation. But going forward they’d be generating about 345 megawatt hours of electricity each year – a potential saving of $50,000 in annual electricity costs.”
A larger business with an 850kW system, which could power a manufacturing facility, a large retail complex or a logistics warehouse, would get an upfront discount of some $232,000.
“Each year they’d be generating about 1,173 MWhs, seeing savings of around $175,000 in their energy bills,” Mr Bowen will say.
“This isn’t just about energy bills – it’s good for productivity, freeing up capital to invest back in their business.”
He will also call on the market regulator to cut red tape and give businesses seeking to install solar energy systems faster approval processes.
