Blog
Tasmania’s energy future: fossil or renewable?
The current Tasmanian energy crisis confronts us with a start choice for the energy future of Tasmania, either a retreat to fossil fuels, or an opportunity to take immediate action to ensure that the state has a future powered by renewable energy. Tasmania’s hydro dam levels have dropped every year since the 2012 peak of 62%. Spring 2015 saw inflows fall to less than half of the previous lowest record for that period, resulting in capacity at 25% on 20 December 2015. On that date the Basslink cable, which had been importing 40% of the...
read moreSupport a fair go for solar in Tasmania – petitions close 3 November
Please sign our e-petitions to the Tasmanian House of Assembly and Legislative Council.* These petitions close on 3 November. By signing these formal e-petitions, your concerns will be tabled in Parliament and the government will be obliged to give a formal response. Many Tasmanians want to contribute to a renewable powered future by investing in solar PV but the solar industry has been undermined by repeated drops in the feed-in tariff and unfair metering that does not fully reward solar owners for the electricity they export. Despite its...
read moreA new tariff option
TasNetworks is proposing the introduction of an opt-in ‘demand time of use’ tariff for residential and small business customers starting from July 2017. The new tariff is likely to be of most benefit to customers who can manage the time of their energy use. It may also allow customers with on-grid battery systems to manage their energy costs by storing grid or solar PV energy and using it to reduce peak time consumption. Background TasNetworks is currently working on its Distribution Determination for the period July 2017 to June 2019....
read moreTREA AGM 29 Oct 2015
The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Tasmanian Renewable Energy Alliance Inc. will be held at 6pm on Thursday 29 October 2015 in The Chapel, New Sydney Hotel, Bathurst Street, Hobart. Door prize thanks to SolarSpec: one lucky attendee will win a door prize pack from SolarSpec, contains two DC Isolators, wide-brimmed hat and t-shirt, total value of $150. The business of the annual general meeting is to: elect the officers of the Association and the ordinary committee members, confirm the minutes of the last preceding annual general meeting...
read moreTasmania heading the wrong way on renewable energy
Despite its abundant natural resources of hydro, wind and solar and its renewable energy infrastructure, Tasmania has joined the rest of Australia in doing a U-turn away from a sustainable future. Figures provided to TREA by Melbourne Energy Institute[1] show that in the financial year just ended, Tasmania spent $34m more buying dirty brown-coal fired electricity from Victorian than it earned exporting renewable energy to the mainland. In the previous two year, Tasmania was a net exporter of electricity. The mechanisms behind this are...
read moreBoom and bust in the solar industry in Tasmania
As at 7 April 2015 there are over 24,600 solar PV installations in Tasmania with a total installed capacity of over 83 MW. Boom and bust cycles are a constant in the solar industry due to the way changes in government policy are implemented. The recent experience in Tasmania reflects this. Analysis by the Tasmanian Renewable Energy Alliance shows there are now less than 200 new installations a month, compared with around 500 a month before the feed-in tariff changed in August 2013. On 18 August 2013 the state government announced that...
read moreSolar Impulse – free documentary
The Wings of the Sun Free Screening (Suitable for all ages) 6.30PM for 7PM Tuesday 24th March, 2015 At the Dechaineux Theatre (Next to Henry Jones Art Hotel) UTAS School of Art, Hunter St, Hobart Come and see the screening of the fascinating documentary ‘The Wings of the Sun’ which shows the construction and testing of the record-breaking ‘Solar Impulse’ solar-powered aircraft that flew across America in 2013. This is in support of the current attempt by pilots André Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard to fly its successor, ‘Solar Impulse 2’ and...
read moreSummer of Solar
We are proud to support the Australian Solar Council’s Summer of Solar The fantastic news is the Senate has stopped the Federal Government cutting support for solar. That means the Federal Government RET scheme remains in place unchanged. Now is the perfect time to buy. See our Solar page for info in installing solar in Tasmania. Install solar this summer to slash your power bills and show our Prime Minister you care about solar. By investing in rooftop solar you will be supporting lower power bills, clean energy jobs and a renewable...
read moreTREA AGM 30 October 2014
The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Tasmanian Renewable Energy Alliance Inc. will be held at 6pm on Thursday 30 October 2014 at Rexel Electrical Supplies, 221 Main Road, Derwent Park. The business of the annual general meeting is to: elect the officers of the Association and the ordinary committee members, confirm the minutes of the last preceding annual general meeting and of any general meeting held since that meeting, receive from the committee, auditor and servants of the Association reports on the transactions of the Association...
read moreScapegoating solar not the solution to our network challenges
[A shorter version of this article was published in The Mercury on 20 August 2014] It is extremely disappointing to see the new head of TasNetworks trotting out the usual anti-solar messages (The Mercury 14 August). Contrary to what is often presented in the mass media, solar PV is not predominantly owned by the wealthy and is not cross subsidised by the poor. In fact the lowest income LGA in Tasmania (Tasman) has more than twice as many solar installations per 100 dwellings as the richest (Hobart)[1]. A hypothetical Tasmanian grid-connected...
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