Solar Energy

The Hon. M.C. PARNELL (15:09): It is hard to beat Conchita and Steve the koala, but I do seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Climate Change a question about solar panel uptake.

Leave granted.

The Hon. M.C. PARNELL: South Australia and the ACT are without doubt the best performing jurisdictions in terms of new renewable energy. Most of South Australia's success is from wind power. However, solar PV is also making an increasing contribution. It has been a point of pride in South Australia that we lead the nation in the uptake of domestic rooftop solar panels. However, figures released this week by the Climate Council show that Queensland has now overtaken South Australia to claim top spot for the percentage of households with solar panels. They have 29.6 per cent of homes with solar panels while South Australia has 28.8 per cent.

The report, which is entitled 'Game on: The Australian renewable energy race heats up', also debunks the myth that solar panels mainly benefit the wealthy, with most of the top solar postcodes found in low to middle income areas. In South Australia, the top solar postcode is 5117 which is Angle Vale, and other areas with over 50 per cent solar penetration include Buckland Park, Virginia, Laura and Stone Hut. Richer suburbs and towns are way down on the list.

Outside South Australia, some jurisdictions are now mandating solar power for new housing estates, such as the Denman Prospect in Canberra, which mandates a minimum of three kilowatts of solar PV on every house, and Breezes Muirhead in Darwin, which mandates 4.5 kilowatts plus charging points for electric vehicles on every house. My questions are:

1. What will the government do to ensure that South Australia reclaims from Queensland its rightful mantle of Australia's solar champion state?

2. Will the government consider mandating solar power on appropriate new housing developments, in particular, public low income housing?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (15:12): I thank the honourable member for his most important question, even though he did take every opportunity to drive home the fact that we have, only just recently and by less than 1 per cent, been pipped at the post by Queensland in terms of rooftop-installed PV.

The Hon. K.J. Maher: It was mainly a compliment. He was complimenting mainly.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: He was, mainly, in a backhanded way.

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Indeed. But it is an important question because it does outline, I think, some of the key issues that we need to deal with as a government, as a country and, indeed, as a world in terms of combating issues like climate change. Rooftop solar, often sneered at by many, is actually a way that people feel they can contribute to action on climate change. South Australians and Australians want governments to act on climate change. In fact, I can refer to a poll and a report in an Age of recent days which is headlined 'Turnbull not acting on climate: poll' and which states:

Two-thirds of voters say the Turnbull government is doing 'not very much' or 'nothing at all' to combat climate change. And they are not alone—exclusive international polling for Fairfax Media shows a similar proportion in 22 other nations think their governments are doing little or nothing to address global warming.

It is little wonder, then, that citizens themselves are taking direct action—and it is not the direct action that the federal government has been championing around Paris and New York in recent times. That is indirect action, but we will come to that later on.

What it means, of course, is that citizens want action from their government on global warming and they are actually doing things themselves. They are not sitting back waiting for the national government of this country to act: they are actually acting themselves by installing, for example, rooftop solar. Even now, they are also getting into the market for battery storage, and some adventurous souls are looking at installing some micro wind turbines, which I am assured, the new generation, at least, don't make a lot of sound.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: Are they the ones Mike Rann put in that nearly didn't work?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Well, this is a progression. Back in the day, the cost of those things was incredibly expensive, and now they are becoming cheaper and cheaper. Again, the same happens with PV.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: The Hon. Mr Ridgway says those things with big blades on them that go round and round don't work. But of course we know that on Sunday South Australia generated 100 per cent of its energy requirements on wind, the sort of wind the Hon. Mr Ridgway doesn't like. Of course what we are seeing, as this is taken up more across the country, is that the price of electricity generated by renewables decreases and puts downward pressure on the cost of electricity.

The same thing happened to the technology behind rooftop PV—exactly the same thing: expensive in the beginning when very few people were taking it up, but now it is becoming so cheap and so common place that we have been pipped at the post by Queensland. Oh, how will we bear that? The honourable member asked very important questions about how this government is undertaking our plans on climate change separate from the federal government, which is doing everything it can to hinder states and also local governments acting.

Local governments right around the country are wanting to get in on this act, because they see their needs as local communities being absolutely ignored by the federal government, absolutely ignored. So, local government is now working with state government and local communities to drive the action on climate change. The sorts of things we are doing in the city, with the very progressive City of Adelaide, led by the very progressive Lord Mayor, is endorsing their programs to give grants to local businesses and households to install PV or other emissions abatement programs. We doubled their grant program last year from $150,000 up to $300,000. I understand that about $100,000 of that has been expended, and that $100,000 of expenditure, I am told, has generated just over $1 million worth of leverage of private investment.

So, from a small investment from the state government and the Adelaide City Council we have leveraged about 10 times as much private investment. That is a good investment in renewable energy. That is a good investment in working with local communities and businesses to drive the innovations we need, and the uptake in those innovations through rooftop solar, be it stored or battery storage, to a higher level so that we can drive down those costs again.

It is common knowledge and a common view that where the battery storage systems are right now is about where rooftop PV was 20 years ago. It is just hitting the ground—early adopters are picking up it. Early adopters are very keen to link it in to their rooftop systems, and some of the energy companies like AGL now offer products which give you rooftop solar and battery storage combined. We will see the price of those packages come down even further, providing more renewable energy into the South Australian market.

What we need from the federal government is action on the national electricity network to make it a truly national network, so that we can export across the border our excess renewables and bring down the cost of electricity right around the country.