Australian think-tank the Grattan Institute has attracted the opprobrium of the country's solar industry after releasing a report this week claiming that solar subsidies will have cost more than AUS$9.7 billion by 2028. The institute's Sundown, sunrise: how Australia can finally get solar power right report urges the Australian government to "avoid the mistakes of the past" and reject solar subsidies that it claims are unfair, expensive and needlessly lavish.By 2028, the report claims, state-backed support for solar will have cost the economy AUS$9 billion (US$7.5 billion) overall, with total subsidies to solar PV owners amounting to $14 billion. However, solar supporters in Australia and beyond were quick to dismiss the report as blinkered and one-sided, with Giles Parkinson of RenewEconomy arguing that the report is predicated on a series of erroneous and conservative assumptions as to the efficiency and efficacy of solar technology. Writing in the Guardian newspaper, Parkinson said: "Let's start with that $9 billion figure. The first think the report gets wrong is to base its numbers on the assumption that solar systems only last for 15 years. Most solar systems are likely to last 25 or even 30 years - some even more. "So right at the start, the report has underestimated the benefits in avoided grid costs and abatement by at least 40%," Parkinson said. "That's a critical number that delivers an entirely different outcome." In adding up the costs but not the benefits of solar, Parkinson argues, the report dismisses the fact that solar PV's penetration has helped to lower wholesale electricity prices in Australia considerably. The report states that solar PV "does not constitute a net economic benefit to society". ...Den vollständigen Artikel lesen ...