The future looks bright for solar PV in Australia

Four stages can typically be identified in every economic cycle: growth, development, maturity and decline. Those who believe that the future of solar power in Australia is troubled are wrong, mistrusting a market which last year accounted for 4% of global PV installations and was ranked sixth in the world.

However, there is no doubt that the solar industry is going through a complex phase in which some of the biggest challenges are policy uncertainty over the future of carbon pricing, a reduction in the value of feed-in tariffs, re-establishing profitability into the solar market and concerns about whether renewable energy targets could potentially change under the new government.

Despite this, the need to reduce Australia’s carbon footprint and increase the production of cleaner electricity can, and will, stimulate competitive and sustainable growth for the solar industry and for companies like Yingli Green Energy. Overarching concerns about the economics and even aesthetics of renewable energy installations have been replaced by the realisation of an urgent need for solar power as a viable long-term option for both residential and commercial sites to support our increasing population.

The solar industry is on the cusp of the second stage of the economic cycle: the development stage, where the end of incentive schemes is linked to achieving grid parity. In Australia, the industry is undergoing a natural transformation, having moved from an initial phase where it was highly incentivised, or ‘medicated’, compared with normal market conditions. This transformation is becoming clearer as solar becomes more affordable. Rapidly improving energy storage technologies also offer the potential for greater direct use of renewable electricity, both in the residential and, increasingly, in the commercial sector.

Today, a family or business can cover almost all its annual energy requirements with solar power without prohibitive costs and have the ability to see consistent savings over time. This can be attributed to the increasingly affordable prices of photovoltaic systems against rising retail energy costs. While Australian consumers are reaping fewer or no benefits from feeding electricity back into the grid, they are now focusing on the return on investment that can be achieved within only a few years of investing in an installation. As part of this, the solar system’s manufacturing quality and longevity is becoming more important.

In the commercial sector, businesses now have ample opportunity to adopt new strategies and industrial policies to use solar photovoltaic systems to deliver significant economic benefits for their bottom line.

The Australian Government has committed to getting at least 20% of Australia’s electricity from renewable sources by 2020. This is a signal to the solar industry and businesses that there is a market for clean, renewable energy investments. Do we really want to ignore the needs and wishes of Australians wanting to avoid high electricity prices by continuing with the current policy uncertainty?

The future for solar PV in Australia is looking bright despite these uncertainties. We have already embraced solar energy and its ability to meet the needs of future generations. We can only see further growth over time, with an industry that is well positioned to move to the third stage of the cycle, maturity.

*Daman Cole is the Commercial Director for Yingli Solar in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific. His previous roles include national sales and commercial manager in the energy, technology and construction industries. His skills include end-to-end contract management, project management in complex tender, strategic development, identifying new product opportunities and relationship building for business.