Solar is Helping Australia to Reach Grid Parity

With reductions in government rebates and subsidies beginning to occur across the country, Australia is now ata turning point in its campaign for large scale renewable energy production to occur through solar PV, natural gas and wind power. We are blessed with some of the cheapest and most accessible sources of alternative energy in world. It is not a matter of IF we will reach grid parity; the only question that remains is when will it occur?

Grid parity is the point where alternative means of electricity like solar energy, wind and hydro become as cheap to use as the current electricity grid prices.  Experts and analyst believe that Australia already hasmuch of what it takes in regards to natural resources to make this possible, it is only a matter of having good planning and government policies to follow that are sustainable.

Currently the world seems to be in a race to reach grid parity. The United States of America has set 2015 as the target, and other countries like Japan and Italy are not lagging far behind. Currently only Hawaii and other small islands have reached the state of parity in electricity, but Andrew Blakers, the Director of the Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems at the Australian National University, has his hopes high that Australia will soon reach this enviable state as well.

He said that the government should now focus on a "non gold-rush version" of the feed in tariff and should put more careful investment into renewable energy of all aspects. As thecurrent feed in tariffs are only short term, it is his hope that the government should start realising that long term investing in research, development, commercialisation and market support is what will deliver long term solutions to the huge carbon emissions problem.

Worldwide mistakes should set a warning example for our country; Italy and other European countries have made great strides to their renewable energy attempts, but it has been another gold rush that hasn’t been sustainable. Global trends show that solar power installation only booms when a new scheme or tariff is legislated, and then drops back down again as consumer confidence drops. Focusing on long term investments would not only make grid parity occur sooner but would be sustainable indefinitely.

If Australia reaches the state of grid parity via the correct means of research and development rather thanby short term subsidies, prices of solar panels will plunge even lower, and it is not impossible to see a country fully powered by renewable energy sources.