Solar energy program met with success in Queensland, Australia

Feed-in tariff proves successful with homeowners

The Australian government recently launched an ambitious feed-in tariff program for solar energy in Queensland. Since the introduction of the plan, which is officially known as the Queensland Government Solar Bonus Scheme, thousands of Queensland residents have been clamoring to participate. The plan provides homeowners with financial incentives to adopt solar energy systems for their homes. Those that supply energy back to the energy grid of Queensland would receive kickbacks from the provincial government, which would essentially be paying citizens for the surplus energy they produced.

Program spikes the popularity of solar energy

The plan had become so popular it its initial launch that the government had to reduce the amount of money Queensland homeowners could receive through the feed-in tariff. Beginning last month, Queenslanders participating in the program could only receive 8 cents per kilowatt hour, down from the 44 cents they received in the earlier days of the feed-in tariff program. According to Energy, one of Australia’s largest energy companies, more than 139,000 solar energy systems were installed in Queensland in May of this year. The company received more than 150,000 new applications to participate in t he solar energy program at the beginning of July.

Australian program may be able to sidestep the financial troubles seen in other countries with similar energy schemes

The popularity of solar energy is growing rapidly due to the feed-in tariff. Similar financial incentives to spur the adoption of solar energy have been met with similar levels of success in other countries. Germany, one of the pioneers of solar energy feed-in tariffs, saw so much success from its program that the country’s politicians began worrying that it would financially damage the country. Australia believes it has designed its solar energy feed-in tariff program to avoid the potential financial problems that could be confronted through such an endeavor.

Energy directed to power grid when surplus is available

Surplus energy generated by those participating in the solar energy program has the chance to sell this energy back to the Australian power grid. The process is somewhat autonomous, as this energy will automatically be funneled to the energy grid if it is more than what is being consumed by the household at any given time.

Related article(s) and resources:

http://cleantechnica.com/2012/07/19/aussies-scramble-for-pv-system-kickback/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IM-cleantechnica+%28CleanTechnica%29