Energy Watch Blog

Energy costs are rising ... and people are feeling the pain.

Many people who have considered Renewable Energy, such as Solar Power, for their home or business are aware that Government Incentives, such as Rebates and Feed-in Tariffs, have been cut back significantly ... and are likely to be cut back further, possible very soon.

People want to make sustainable choices but rightly have to ask themselves "Is renewable energy still economically viable ? ... And can it protect me from the rising cost of energy ?"

In one word "Yes" ... But the design of Solar Power, Wind Power and Solar Hot Water Systems needs to more carefully match the generation to the users demand for energy at the time that it occurs at different times of the day, days of the weeks and weeks of the year. And it needs to be combined with an overall assessment of energy use on site and Energy-Efficieny measures to reduce energy demand such as Insulation, Double-Glazing, LED Lighting and Reverse-Cycle Air-Conditioners. It also needs to consider how storing energy from intermittant sources (Sun, Wind) can be done economically now and how to prepare for the coming widespread uptake of energy storage as battery costs come down over the next 5 years.

In this series of articles, I want to explore ways that renewable energy can stack up economically for homes and businesses, looking at at specific technologies in turn.

But first I want to take a step back and place renewable energy generation "behind the meter" onsite at homes and businesses in the context of the wider energy market ... and I want to start with a statement that might surprise some people: Unless ways are found by the Fossil Fuel Industry to reduce the cost of producing their polluting product, Renewables will be seen as the economic choice for homes and most small to medium businesses within a decade. People will be asking "Are fossil fuels and centralized generation still economically viable ?". And this will disrupt the current business model of centralized generators and distributors to such a degree that that utility companies may seek to abandon whole sections of the mains electricity grid, forcing energy consumers to conside standalone off-grid renewable energy.

Not convinced ?

Consider these facts:

• The price of a Solar Panel fell about 80% of the 5 years from 2008 and 2013 before stabilizing somewhat in 2014
• Tesla Motors in the USA recently opened the long-anticipated "Giga-Factory" to make batteries for Electric Cars - could that be the start of battery prices undergoing the same dramatic 80% fall ?
• Throughout Australia, the price of Mains Gas is predicted to double (or even triple) as export contracts come into effect and see locally-mined gas exported to countries where the price of gas is 2 to 3 times our price.
• The International Energy Agency says solar will produce 27 per cent of all electricity globally by 2050.
• By 2050, the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany predicts solar will cost as little as 2c per kWh
• Back home in South Australia, on one day in December 2014, Solar Power met 1/3 of the demand for electricity between 11.30am and 3.30pm.

Still not convinced ?

I look forward to next time when I can have another go at convincing you that centralized generation is in trouble and that you need to consider renewable energy ...