There has been a bit of a storm in a teacup lately in the Australian press, claiming that all those people who “bought into the hype” and installed solar panels on their homes will now have to pay tax on the income they receive for any electricity generated. Of course it’s very easy for the … [Read more…]
The Australian government is waffling on the issue of a nationalised renewable energy feed-in tariff for homes. Recent announcements seem to indicate that they’ll favour a net tariff, which is very much inferior to the gross feed-in tariff the solar industry is calling for. A gross feed-in tariff (where the energy-producing household is paid for … [Read more…]
If you’re in Australia and have been thinking about getting a grid-connected solar power system, there’s a really good deal right now with Earth Utility. If you order before 15 December 2008, it’ll cost $2,500 installed (after rebates, RECs, etc and excluding utility connection costs). **WARNING:** Earth Utility appears to be in trouble (updated 28-04-2010) … [Read more…]
I just read an interesting article in [ReNew Magazine Issue 104](http://shop.ata.org.au/cart.php?target=product&product_id=16521&category_id=300) about the [guerrilla solar movement](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Guerrilla) and one individual’s experiments with his unapproved DIY grid-connect solar panels. It’s not as dangerous as it sounds. Solar guerrillas use commercial mains power inverters which meet the relevant international standards to feed their electricity into the grid. You … [Read more…]