Electronics News’ reporters penned some interesting solar power-related news last week. No fewer than three news stories made their way into the magazine’s newsfeed. (Incidentally, you can sign up to receive the free newsletter from the website homepage.)
The Saint diligently read the items, but, informative as they were, he couldn’t help but feel somewhat riled after finishing them all. Regular readers of this column will probably not be surprised that your correspondent got hot under the collar yet again about Australia’s efforts to maximise the potential of solar power – after all, he has a track record of whinging.
But your correspondent believes the reports are yet another example of hype clouding the facts. Things are not quite as they seem.
First, the good news. Perth-based Energy Made Clean (EMC) is making the most of Western Australia’s sunshine hours by generating up to 290 kW from a new solar power station in Carnarvon. According to Electronics News’ report, the station will produce 600,000 kWh annually and save 483 tonnes of CO2 compared to generating the same amount of power using fossil fuels.
(Cynics might suggest that the 180,000 litres of diesel fuel that the power station saves is (almost literally) a drop in the 580 million-litre ocean of oil that’s burnt in Australia each year, but let’s not be churlish.)
In another alternative energy good news story, Swinburne University of Technology researchers claim to have developed the world’s most efficient “nanoplasmonic” solar cells. The scientists manufactured these thin film solar cells such that they exhibited an absolute efficiency of 8.1 percent.
According to the report, thin film cells are a cheap alternative to crystalline silicon cells and can be used to cover conventional glass, so buildings are able to generate power directly from the sunlight hitting them.
Finally, Electronics News’ reporters wrote that analyst IMS says 20 gigawatts of photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing equipment need to be replaced or upgraded by 2016. That sounds like a big opportunity for someone.
So, all is well in the Australia solar power industry; power stations are opening, our researchers are working at the leading edge and the global industry is set to spend big to update its PV capacity, stimulating the market and perhaps generating an significant increase in the country’s export dollars.
Well, not quite. By looking a bit deeper, your correspondent has stripped back this thin veneer of good news to expose a less rosy interior. For example, EMC notes on its website that “[Carnarvon] station is the first PPA [Power Purchase Agreements] supported solar power station in Western Australia”.
That’s an innocuous statement… until you know that obtaining future PPAs in Australia has recently got considerably harder, undermining the prospects of raising private investment for future solar projects and leading to fears that the Federal Government’s Solar Flagship program is about to collapse.
According to Dylan McConnell, a Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne, PPAs are contracts with an “off-taker”, generally a retailer, to purchase the electricity generated for a period of time at a certain price. They provide a degree of investor certainty to ensure the project’s “bankability”.
In a report in Electronics News, McConnell says “There is a soft market for renewable energy certificates, and retailers are reluctant to enter into PPAs with third parties. [And] the big retailers are now developing their own renewable energy projects, removing the need to involve third parties and sign PPAs with other developers.”
So Carnarvon power station may end up being a unique example of PPA support for the solar industry.
A closer observation of Swinburne’s announcement reveals that the university’s partner in the nanoplasmonic solar cell research is Suntech Power Holdings. It turns out that Suntech is the Chinese solar technology company that last year benefited from Victorian taxpayers’ money, in collaboration with Swinburne, to improve the efficiency of conventional silicon solar cells.
At the time, Suntech promised that if the work were successful, it would invest in a plant in Victoria to commercialise the new technology. Little has been mentioned about such a factory since then. The Saint wonders if the technical expertise that Suntech is gaining from the latest venture will end up going into the Chinese economy rather than Australia’s.
So, although IMS is talking up the prospects for solar, Australia’s industry appears to be in no position to take advantage to boost exports. A country that could be leading the world in solar technology is in disarray, just at the point that the impending carbon tax could be the catalyst that makes this alternative power source far more economically attractive.
And don’t forget, this is a continent that’s blessed with a huge tract of land which, with an average of nine to eleven hours of sunshine all year round, is classed as the sixth sunniest on the planet.
Could Back Pain Sensors Turn into Big Brother?
Elsewhere this week, The Saint’s attention was grabbed by a news item about two Melburnian brothers who have developed sensor technology “aiming to revolutionise the treatment of debilitating workplace back injuries”.
In itself, the application sounds innocent enough –– being designed to ensure workers don’t stress their backs. It works by using wireless sensors that track a person’s movements with the data then downloaded to a computer for analysis/
“We can see how much muscle activity is occurring,” says Anthony Green from dorsaVi, the company that markets the devices. “The data is then downloaded into the computer [for analysis].”
There’s no suggestion that dorsaVi isn’t being totally honest in its marketing literature, but your correspondent couldn’t help but imagine how more unscrupulous managers might choose to use the technology. Having access to how your workers have been using their muscles during paid hours could lead to some difficult conversations for employees.
“You don’t seem to have moved at all for a period during the afternoon,” The Saint can hear a disgruntled boss opining.
“Everyone’s allowed to take a toilet break,” a defensive employee might say in reply.
“What, for 75 minutes?”
