GREEN DEALS: Solar forced to wait

 The NSW solar industry may have won a victory in forcing the newly elected conservative government into a policy backflip on retrospective tariff changes, but it still faces at least another month of potentially damaging uncertainty. “There is still no forward market,” says Russell Marsh, policy analyst at the Clean Energy Council. “That is just as important.”

The NSW government was to have held its second solar summit – the conference of interested parties that will help frame a solar policy for the future – this week, but this is now on hold until the end of the month or early July. And it might be a few weeks after that until the government makes its position clear.

The industry fears that this will cause great stress on the industry. The irony is that, while the image of solar has never been stronger, as demonstrated by the policy backflip, the industry’s future has never been as clouded. Retailers don’t know what to tell potential customers, and some utilities have stopped connections of new installations. Clear Solar, the third largest installer, collapsed this week, but while most of its business is in Victoria and it presumably had other issues, it is symbolic of the fragility in the industry.

Other businesses have had to cut staff – Sky Mining has cut its staff numbers by 19 to 5 in the last few weeks – and this situation is expected to spread. “Many businesses are on the verge of toppling over the edge,” says John Grimes, from the Australian Solar Energy Society.

The industry sees that there are two key decisions to be made, not just on the retail tariffs, but also for commercial-scale installations – something only the ACT government has had the foresight to address. The proposed 1:1 net tariff for household installations is the most likely option, but it will require some negotiations that include the energy retailers and the network distributors over the pricing structure. This could come as quite a shock to the distributors.

Redflow to manufacture overseas

Australian electricity storage system company RedFlow has chosen the US-based electronics manufacturing giant Jabil Circuit to manufacture its zinc-bromine battery modules in Asia, after deciding that expanding its facilities in Australia would be too expensive. Redflow says the appointment of Jabil came ahead of schedule, and production of the modules will also commence in the third quarter this year, nearly two years ahead of the timetable envisaged in the company’s prospectus last November. Initial production will take place in Taiwan

CEO Phil Hutchings says the early expansion of manufacturing capacity will help reduce production costs and accelerate the company’s entry into international markets. “It is pleasing that we have been able to appoint an outsourced manufacturer earlier than planned and accelerate our transition into higher volume, lower cost production,” Hutchings said. “Jabil brings to RedFlow low-cost, high-quality manufacturing, a well-developed supply chain and a demonstrated ability to ramp up production to meet customer needs."

Redflow says Jabil is separately negotiating with RedFlow to integrate its battery modules for products in the telecommunications market and has agreed to purchase 60 ZBMs for trials. Delivery will take place later this year. RedFlow said its existing workforce and Brisbane production facilities will progressively switch to large-scale prototype production of "enhanced, next-generation" ZBMs before again handing these over for outsourced manufacturing.

Korea's green drive

South Korea has launched a massive investment drive into renewable energy, aiming to grab an 18 per cent share of the global industry by 2030, create 1.5 million jobs and generate more than $300 billion of export income. According to a Bloomberg report, the country’s Knowledge Economy industry has selected solar and wind power, fuel cells, biogas, energy storage and nuclear energy as some of the 15 key “green energy” industries that will receive support for technology research.

South Korea, the fourth largest economy in Asia and one of Australia’s biggest trading partners, says the initiative will help reduce emissions of CO2 by 210 million metric tons by 2030. It estimates it currently has only a 1.2 per cent share of the renewable energy market, but sales from clean energy from leading industrial firms have risen nearly seven-fold in the past three years as a result of heavy investment in the sector.

Soda pop

SA-based soda ash manufacturer Penrice Soda Holdings has struck a deal with GE to provide Australia's coal seam gas industry with a process to remove brine from its wastewater. The filtering process produces saleable chemicals and wastewater that's clean enough to be returned to the environment, Penrice says. Penrice and the water and process technologies business of GE Power & Water will build demonstration plants to commercialise technology developed by Penrice. Penrice, whose soda ash is used in glass, washing powder, and sodium bicarbonate, says it will diversify its chemicals business by using the brine. The company's shares went up 6.5 cents, or 46.43 per cent, to 20.5 cents following the announcement of the deal on Tuesday.