Solar power in Australia

Here in Australia we now virtually do not have any subsidies for solar panels.

But they are getting so cheap (and will continue to get cheaper) that it makes sense to buy them at full cost and reduce your electricity bill, especially if you have high daytime consumption (e.g. air conditioners, heaters, electrical hot water running at peak time etc).

However if too many people put solar panels on their roofs and then are not buying daytime peak electricity the traditional power generators and distributors will have to charge their residual customers a lot more to maintain profitability.

I fully expect traditional power generators and distributors to lobby government to enact laws that restrict solar panel deployment, or make it more expensive, so that they maintain their revenues and margins.

They will argue that if government does not do this then the poor, who may not be able to afford the capital outlay of solar panels, will suffer higher electricity prices and that, in any case, we will need to keep all our (fully depreciated) coal-burning power plants in full operational capacity since we need the base-load power at night when solar panels do not work.

The government might even decide to charge us for ‘their’ photons, like they charge broadcasters for ‘their’ radio frequencies.

You wait and see.