Posts Tagged Fake Solar Credits
What the REC is this?
Don’t reck the REC
The government has proposed giving five times the normal number of renewable energy certificates (REC) to people installing solar panels on their roof until 2015. This means four out of the five certificates will represent energy that isn’t actually produced!
Extra certificates can act as a financial incentive to install solar panels because installers sell them on to retailers. Subsequently, on paper Australia will be achieving its annual targets for renewables, but in reality achieving much, much less.
Further to this, with so much of the annual targets in the first five years taken up by fake solar hot water RECs, there won’t be enough space within the targets to get large scale projects off the ground – including wind projects that are ready to go now.
This may delay large scale projects until 2015, meaning not just delayed renewables, but delayed investment in jobs too. If people thought that their investment in solar panels could reduce large scale investment in renewable energy, this may also be a significant disincentive to install solar panels.
Continue Reading Add comment August 5, 2009
