Australia's plan to produce 20 percent of energy from renewable sources by 2020 includes incentives for solar panels, Climate Change Minister Penny Wong.
Wong, releasing draft laws for the target today in Brisbane, said it would include so-called Solar Credits for people who use energy from the sun. The laws also expand the target of electricity from renewable sources to 45,000 gigawatt-hours in 2020 from the existing 9,500 GWh in 2010.
"We are building the low pollution economy of the future by putting a cost on carbon pollution and driving investment in renewable technologies like wind, solar and geothermal energy," Wong said in an e-mailed statement.
Australia's renewable energy target is part of the government's aim to reduce greenhouse gases 60 percent by 2050 to address climate change. Wong this week said the government would use emissions trading to cut pollution 5-15 percent by 2020.
The plan will allow consumers to earn five credits, or Renewable Energy Certificates, for each mega-watt hour of solar energy produced by their panels. These RECs will act as an up- front capital cost worth A$7,500 ($5,194) for purchasers of household photovoltaic systems, Wong said.
"These Solar Credits will help households, small businesses and community groups get assistance with the up-front cost of new solar systems," Environment Minister Peter Garrett said in the statement. "This will provide the industry with a firm footing for the future"
Solar thermal plants might provide half of the renewable target, WorleyParsons Ltd., Australia's biggest engineering company, said in August.
Australian investment in solar power systems may reach as much as A$17.9 billion over the next 20 years with the introduction of a feed-in tariff, the Clean Energy Council, an industry lobby group, said in November.
The council said today the expanded renewable energy target for electricity will trigger more than A$20 billion of new investment and drive immediate cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.
To contact the reporter on this story: Gemma Daley in Canberra at gdaley@bloomberg.net
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