BP Solar, Australia’s largest solar manufacturer, has called for an Australia-wide system of feed-in tariffs.
The comment was made by Brooke Miller, Regional Director for BP Solar Australasia in a press release lauding South Australia for being the first jurisdiction in the south Pacific to launch a solar PV feed-in tariff.
“The challenge is now for Australia’s other state and territory governments to follow South Australia’s lead and adopt a solar Feed In Tariff and in turn help in creating a nation powered by solar,” said the release.
BP Solar has the capacity to build 50 MW per year from its plant in Australia.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported in a feature story that though New South Wales is not planning to introduce a feed-in tariff itself, a spokesman for Minister for Energy, Ian Macdonald, called for a national feed-in tariff policy.
The Herald also reported that during the recent national campaign, the winning Labor party had proposed at national feed-in tariff program. What this may mean in practice is unknown, the South Australia feed-in tariff policy is one in name only. Some critics have likened it to a “faux feed-in tariff” because of its extremely modest objectives.
The Herald quotes BP’s Miller as suggesting 3,000 MW could be built within the next decade. Miller, says the Herald, “envisions making everyone the chief executive of their own solar power station.”
