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Residential solar PV policy: An analysis of impacts, successes and failures in the Australian case

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  • Chapman, Andrew J.
  • McLellan, Benjamin
  • Tezuka, Tetsuo

Abstract

Residential or ‘rooftop’ solar PV can play an important role in providing renewable energy, thus offsetting fossil fuel based generation and associated greenhouse gas emissions. In Australia, subsidies are offered to encourage the deployment of residential PV in the form of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) and Feed-in Tariffs (FiTs). This paper provides a literature review of existing work which assesses renewable energy in Australia, and delves deeper into a residential PV specific analysis of available data across the five criteria of installation, employment, market maturity, FiT settings and environmental outcomes to assess successes, failures and impacts of Australian residential PV policies between 2001 and 2012. This analysis identifies overall success with regard to environmental and deployment goals, and limited success in the goal of renewable energy industry promotion, which is devoid of indigenous manufacturing. In addition, impacts, including the dominance of the FiT as the initial stimulus for rapid PV deployment, cost impacts on electricity bills for various FiT settings, and the dependence of PV employment numbers on the continuation of the FiT are also identified. Finally, inequitable outcomes due to the FiT, such as cross-subsidisation from non-solar to solar households are also detailed.

Suggested Citation

  • Chapman, Andrew J. & McLellan, Benjamin & Tezuka, Tetsuo, 2016. "Residential solar PV policy: An analysis of impacts, successes and failures in the Australian case," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 1265-1279.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:86:y:2016:i:c:p:1265-1279
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2015.09.061
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sommerfeld, Jeff & Buys, Laurie & Vine, Desley, 2017. "Residential consumers’ experiences in the adoption and use of solar PV," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 10-16.
    2. Ryan, Lisa & Dillon, Joseph & Monaca, Sarah La & Byrne, Julie & O'Malley, Mark, 2016. "Assessing the system and investor value of utility-scale solar PV," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 506-517.
    3. Chapman, Andrew J. & McLellan, Benjamin C. & Tezuka, Tetsuo, 2018. "Prioritizing mitigation efforts considering co-benefits, equity and energy justice: Fossil fuel to renewable energy transition pathways," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 219(C), pages 187-198.
    4. Mihaylov, Mihail & Rădulescu, Roxana & Razo-Zapata, Iván & Jurado, Sergio & Arco, Leticia & Avellana, Narcís & Nowé, Ann, 2019. "Comparing stakeholder incentives across state-of-the-art renewable support mechanisms," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 689-699.
    5. Lan, Haifeng & Gou, Zhonghua & Yang, Linchuan, 2020. "House price premium associated with residential solar photovoltaics and the effect from feed-in tariffs: A case study of Southport in Queensland, Australia," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 907-916.
    6. Oliva H., Sebastian, 2017. "Residential energy efficiency and distributed generation - Natural partners or competition?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 932-940.
    7. Dania Ortiz & Vítor Leal, 2020. "Energy Policy Concerns, Objectives and Indicators: A Review towards a Framework for Effectiveness Assessment," Energies, MDPI, Open Access Journal, vol. 13(24), pages 1-26, December.
    8. Tongsopit, Sopitsuda & Junlakarn, Siripha & Wibulpolprasert, Wichsinee & Chaianong, Aksornchan & Kokchang, Phimsupha & Hoang, Nghia Vu, 2019. "The economics of solar PV self-consumption in Thailand," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 395-408.
    9. Chaianong, Aksornchan & Tongsopit, Sopitsuda & Bangviwat, Athikom & Menke, Christoph, 2019. "Bill saving analysis of rooftop PV customers and policy implications for Thailand," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 422-434.
    10. Chesser, Michael & Hanly, Jim & Cassells, Damien & Apergis, Nicholas, 2018. "The positive feedback cycle in the electricity market: Residential solar PV adoption, electricity demand and prices," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 36-44.
    11. Best, Rohan & Burke, Paul J. & Nishitateno, Shuhei, 2019. "Evaluating the effectiveness of Australia's Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme for rooftop solar," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    12. Aotian Song & Lin Lu & Zhizhao Liu & Man Sing Wong, 2016. "A Study of Incentive Policies for Building-Integrated Photovoltaic Technology in Hong Kong," Sustainability, MDPI, Open Access Journal, vol. 8(8), pages 1-21, August.
    13. Best, Rohan & Trück, Stefan, 2020. "Capital and policy impacts on Australian small-scale solar installations," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    14. Robert Olszewski & Piotr Pałka & Agnieszka Wendland & Jacek Kamiński, 2019. "A Multi-Agent Social Gamification Model to Guide Sustainable Urban Photovoltaic Panels Installation Policies," Energies, MDPI, Open Access Journal, vol. 12(15), pages 1-27, August.
    15. Stefan Arens & Sunke Schlüters & Benedikt Hanke & Karsten von Maydell & Carsten Agert, 2020. "Sustainable Residential Energy Supply: A Literature Review-Based Morphological Analysis," Energies, MDPI, Open Access Journal, vol. 13(2), pages 1-28, January.
    16. Liu, Jingkun & Zhang, Ning & Kang, Chongqing & Kirschen, Daniel & Xia, Qing, 2017. "Cloud energy storage for residential and small commercial consumers: A business case study," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 226-236.
    17. Lomas, J.C. & Muñoz-Cerón, E. & Nofuentes, G. & de la Casa, J., 2018. "Sale of profitable but unaffordable PV plants in Spain: Analysis of a real case," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 279-294.
    18. Andrew Chapman & Benjamin McLellan & Tetsuo Tezuka, 2016. "Strengthening the Energy Policy Making Process and Sustainability Outcomes in the OECD through Policy Design," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, Open Access Journal, vol. 6(3), pages 1-16, July.
    19. Lan, Haifeng & Gou, Zhonghua & Lu, Yi, 2021. "Machine learning approach to understand regional disparity of residential solar adoption in Australia," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    20. de Wildt, Tristan E. & Chappin, Emile J.L. & van de Kaa, Geerten & Herder, Paulien M., 2018. "A comprehensive approach to reviewing latent topics addressed by literature across multiple disciplines," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 2111-2128.
    21. Wang, Ge & Zhang, Qi & Li, Yan & Mclellan, Benjamin C. & Pan, Xunzhang, 2019. "Corrective regulations on renewable energy certificates trading: Pursuing an equity-efficiency trade-off," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 970-982.
    22. Best, Rohan & Chareunsy, Andrea & Li, Han, 2021. "Equity and effectiveness of Australian small-scale solar schemes," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    23. Lee, Minhyun & Hong, Taehoon & Yoo, Hyunji & Koo, Choongwan & Kim, Jimin & Jeong, Kwangbok & Jeong, Jaewook & Ji, Changyoon, 2017. "Establishment of a base price for the Solar Renewable Energy Credit (SREC) from the perspective of residents and state governments in the United States," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 1066-1080.
    24. Bryant, Scott T. & Straker, Karla & Wrigley, Cara, 2019. "The discourses of power – governmental approaches to business models in the renewable energy transition," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 41-59.

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