Sender: Sustainable Energy Transformation Pty Ltd
Submission - Victorian Renewable
Energy Roadmap
By Ken Guthrie of Sustainable Energy Transformation.
30 September 2015
Introduction
The Victorian government is to be congratulated for seeking to resume the leadership role in
Renewable energy deployment that it has had in the past. Victoria has taken a lead role on
many aspects of renewable energy over the past decade, in particular the inclusion of solar
water heaters as an option to meet the sustainability requirements of the new housing
standards and also the inclusion in VEET. This has provided a level of stability for the solar hot
water supply industry in Victoria that hasn’t been available in other states.
The Roadmap proposes a target to increase the proportion of electricity used in Victorian that is
generated by renewable energy technologies to be 20% by 2020 up from the current 14%.
One disturbing note from the latest version of Solar Heat Worldwide1 is that whilst new
renewable technologies2 solar heat, PV and wind have been growing markets in recent years,
the growth rates have all declined since 20113. This trend has largely been led by a drop off in
countries and regions that would be expected to lead the renewables charge such as Australia,
Europe and North America. The drop off of investment in these countries can be attributed in
large amount to the withdrawal of government support and subsequent reductions or removals
of subsidies that had helped drive the industry.
Solar Thermal Heating is the quiet achiever of renewable energy. Despite the prevalence of
information and visibility of photovoltaic solar power, its worldwide share of capacity and
energy provided pales in comparison to Solar Thermal heat. According to Solar Heat Worldwide
in the 2014 calendar year there was more than double the total capacity of Solar Thermal in
operation worldwide than its PV counterpart4. Solar heating fills a different niche in the market
to its renewable electric power sources, however its contributions to greenhouse gas reductions
and an overall greener energy landscape should not be underestimated.
Figure 1: Global Capacity in Operation and growth rates 2011 – 2014
1
Mauthner, Weiss and Spork-Dur “Solar Heat Worldwide - Markets and Contributions to the Energy Supply 2013”
International Energy Agency Solar Heating and Cooling Program June 2015 www.iea-shc.org
2
New renewable energy technologies are renewables excluding traditional biomass.
3
Figure 1
4
Figure 2
Figure 2: Total Capacity and Energy Supplied for new renewable technologies
This submission is from an individual however, it is based on the knowledge and information
that I have gathered over many years in a number of national and international activities. I
currently represent Australia, through the Australian PV Institute (APVI), on the Executive
committee that oversees the work of the International Energy Agency Solar Heating and
Cooling programme (IEA SHC)5. Since 2014 I have been the Chairman of that committee. I am
also the Chairman of the ISO Solar Energy Committee and the Australian Standards Committee
that covers solar heating and cooling technologies.
This submission addresses the stated focuses of Roadmap:
a) Identify policy which could be changed
b) Provide information and support for the implementation of renewable projects
c) Investigate actions for Victoria to take to attract investment and jobs
5
The IEA SHC is an international collaborative research program that covers solar heating and cooling
technologies and a range of capacity building activities relevant to all solar technologies.
Issues
The two issues to be addressed are:
1. The supply technologies and the end-uses to be covered by the Renewable Energy
Action Plan: and
2. The adequacy of the proposed target.
Technologies and End uses
Victoria’s Renewable Energy Roadmap sets out to identify and investigate ways in which
Victoria can improve its standing on renewable energy and encourage investment. Given these
goals it is disappointing to see Solar Thermal, which represents the largest installed capacity in
operation worldwide of any new renewable source, barely mentioned throughout this report.
It is understandable as this form of solar t is not easily metered into gigawatt hours produced,
and as such its contribution is not readily visibly. However the energy saved, the related jobs in
manufacturing, installation and monitoring and the benefits to the Victorian economy means
this is not a field that can be overlooked.
Victoria has taken the lead on solar hot water through its regulation requirements for new
housing. This has seen the solar hot water industry achieve a level of stability not available
elsewhere in the country. This is a situation not to be squandered. It puts Victoria on the same
path taken by other jurisdictions which are showing positive results. For example, Israel has
required solar water heaters to be installed on new buildings for the past 35 years. Currently
this produces 3-4% of Israel’s total primary energy, saving over 20% of their electricity needs.
It could be argued that solar thermal heat should be viewed as an energy efficiency process
rather than a renewable energy source as the energy it produces is generally used on site and
its implementation lessens the load on a system rather than creates power to be fed back into
the grid system. However, whether it is viewed as a supply technology or an efficiency
technology it does have the capacity to contribute to Victoria’s energy needs.
It is estimated that over 50% of Victoria’s stationary energy is used as low to medium
temperature heat. This is ideal for solar heating systems to deliver cost effectively.
Victoria has a large manufacturing base in the food and beverage sector. For example 72% of
the $13billion Australian dairy industry is in Victoria6. The food and beverage industry uses
substantial amounts of heat in processing its products. In fact, 63% of processing energy in
the dairy industry is used as heat.
With the likely increase in gas prices in the near future7 and the large amount of gas used to
provide heat for industrial processes in Victoria it is likely that solar and other forms of
renewable heat will become more important for industry in this state.
The IEA SHC program has undertaken a number of projects on industrial process heat and
there are many successful examples of deployment internationally. Also the Australian
Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has recently commissioned a study on the opportunities to
replace gas in manufacturing and solar heat has been identified as a good opportunity to
6
David Barr Dairy Australia Victorian Energy Efficiency Summit August 2015.
Australian Natural gas prices are approaching international parity due to offshore sales. International prices are
linked to oil prices and recent oil price reductions have shielded Australian industry from ‘price shock’ however,
this is unlikely to continue in the long term.
7
provide cost effective heat for low to medium temperature processes.
There are a number of research programs (e.g. RMIT) and industry players in Victoria and
elsewhere in Australia that have the wherewithal to enable the deployment of solar heat in the
industrial sector in very cost effective ways. Solar thermal systems are manufactured in
Australia including Victoria. A Victorian manufacturing plant focusing on collectors for industrial
process heat could provide employment in the currently depressed Victorian metal
manufacturing sector.
The roadmap leaves open the opportunity for solar heat in a few places. Such as:

Initiative 3 pg 17: “considerations will also be given…..heating markets….. to support
their development

Initiative 4 pg 17: discusses financial mechanisms which could be applied to onsite
renewable heat supply.

6.2 initiative 1 pg.23: Developing industry plans for new technology – could lead to
industries such as dairy and the potential of thermal.
However, the roadmap focuses on Wind and PV which are undoubtedly important but not
sufficient alone.
The Renewables 2015 Global Status Report8 states that “Policymakers at all levels of
government need to support the development of renewable heat given the large share of heat
in final energy demand. Further development of integrated approaches for the heating and
electricity sectors also can contribute to reducing grid pressure.”
In summary, The Victorian Energy Action Plan should include energy delivered and
used as heat from solar and other renewable technologies. Targeting Industrial
Process heat will provide substantial employment benefits and benefits in the food
and beverage sector.
The adequacy of the proposed target
The proposed target covers only the supply of electricity. Electricity is responsible for about
35% of Victoria’s Greenhouse emissions.
The target to increase Victoria’s renewable electricity supply by 6% (ie from 14% to 20%) will
result in a reduction in Greenhouse emission of slightly over 2% all else remaining the same.
This is not insignificant, however, it is not sufficient for Victoria to claim any real leadership
position nationally and certainly not internationally.
For example, Renewable Energy Targets required in Europe cover heat supply and transport
fuels as well as electricity. As such they are more comprehensive and provide a broader thrust
for local manufacturing and jobs as the renewable technologies that generate electricity require
large markets to be competitive internationally.
The target needs to cover a wider range of energy use, and cover a longer time frame than the
single 2020 target proposed. There needs to be targets for 100% renewables at some stage in
the future. It is likely that international requirement will lead to 100% renewable energy being
required mid-century.
Consequently a 2030 target of 50% of electricity, 35% of heat and 30% of
8
Renewables 2015 Global Status Report REN21
transport fuel should be realistically considered and a 100% target for all end uses
by 2050.