Could technologies like CETO, being trialled
off Fremantle, give Western Australia an
edge in wave power?

Australia's solar energy industry might have received a big setback in the recent federal budget, but calls are mounting for the adoption of laws that will encourage more people to switch on to renewable energy sources.

An international proponent of renewable energy says Australia has huge potential with regard to the use of solar power, as well as the prospect of being a world leader in ocean-generated power.

Hans-Josef Fell says it’s critical for governments to provide a supportive framework for renewable energies in the next 10 years to help them develop to the stage where they are more economical and mass produced.

Fell is the politician who helped frame Germany’s renewable energy sources law in 2000. The law aims to increase the percentage of renewable energy – such a solar power, wind and biomass – used in Germany by 2010. And it seems to have worked.

“In 2000 in Germany, we set a target to double the share of renewable energy by 2010 – from six to 12 per cent,” he told a weekend breakfast meeting in Perth organised by the WA Sustainable Energy Association.

“Nearly no one believed that this was achievable.

“But at the end of 2007, we reached 14 per cent, a much higher figure in a shorter time.”

He said the next goal with renewable energy in Germany is reach up to 30 per cent of all power use by 2015, and possibly 50 per cent by 2020.

“It is possible, the industry is potent enough to do this, and the resources are big enough to achieve this,” he said.

Fell says the next decade is crucial for renewable energy industries in Australia and elsewhere, because by then renewable energy is likely to be one of the cheapest forms of power. Until then, he said it was important for governments to provide a supportive framework to encourage the renewable energy industry to reach its critical mass.

He particularly advocated the use of a feed-in tariff – where households producing their own solar or wind power could be paid extra to sell back excess power to the grid.

“We need for some technologies – especially PV, solar thermal power stations or ocean energy – a good political framework to help them to reduce the cost for technology to come into mass production,” he said.

“The best framework is a feed-in tariff. A feed-in tariff gives the private capital the secure (framework) for profitable investment.”

Fell says just as Germany become an early adopter and market leader in the use of solar and wind power, Australia has an edge in wave power and feed-in tariffs are needed to provide a critical impetus.

“I believe Australia could become a market leader in ocean energy production, you have big potential in sea currents, waves and tidal and sea temperature differences,” he said.

“You could become the market leader in five or six years in this area for all the world.”

Fell’s call comes at what is seen as the darkest moment for Australia’s solar energy industry, with predictions the recent federal budget will close down the industry.

The budget introduced a means test which means only households earning less than $100,000 will qualify for the $8,000 rebate to buy a solar photovoltaic system to power their homes.

As a result, solar energy businesses across Australia have reported massive cancellations of orders, saying the move could drive them out of business.

The federal government’s move is also at odds with a recent call by the Governor-General, Major General Michael Jeffery, that solar energy is one of Australia’s best chances of securing a sustainable energy source.

And last week, Greens Senator Christine Milne introduced a bill in the Senate for national feed-in tariff laws to encourage the use of renewable energy technologies.