[LINK] Electricity prices

[Marghanita da Cruz]

Ben Elliston wrote:
>> Well, curiously, the NSW Governments scheme that garnered 100+ megawatts
>> of Solar by introducing a 60 cents per kilowatt-hour incentive, is
>> probably the single biggest reason why we have had such enormous price
>> increases in the last two years.
> 
> I suggest you're saying "probably" because you haven't checked.  The
> Solar Bonus Scheme, while I agree it was poorly designed compared to
> feed-in tariffs elsewhere in the world, is not the main cause of
> electricity price increases.  It's peak demand, driven primarily by
> air conditioning loads.

While there is general agreement the solar scheme wasn't ideal - my gut 
feeling is that it gave the industry a kick start and it is a good way to 
deal with peak demands for air conditioning - in Australia, this demand 
usually occurs on a hot sunny day. And despite the problems with the 
insulation program - that was a good idea too.
<http://ramin.com.au/annandale/mary-mackillop-and-annandale.shtml#insulation>

If the cost of coal, gas and oil generated power goes up, solar will become 
more competitive. I understand there are also some network design issues 
with feeding energy into the grid.

There is a lot of work going into the network (eg in my area they replaced 
the copper with aluminium cables) perhaps for the first time in 100 years 
in some places and I hear since the 60s in the case of lighting.
<http://ramin.com.au/eco-sydney/LED-Lighting-AUSGRID.shtml>

Marghanita
-- 
Marghanita da Cruz
Ramin Communications (Sydney)
Website: http://ramin.com.au
Phone:(+612) 0414-869202