As the rollback of state government-based incentives dims the appeal of roof-top solar panels for consumers, thousands of jobs have been shed this year in Australia’s solar photovoltaic (PV) industry.
According to the annual report compiled by industry group, the REC Agents Association, installations of PV panels are likely to have a total capacity of 800 megawatts in 2013, a drop of about 22 per cent on the boom year of 2012.
Jobs in the sector will likely fall by 3400 to 13,600 in 2013, as businesses cut staff or exit the industry.
“There’s a rationalisation happening at the moment,” Ric Brazzale, association president told Fairfax Media.
There’s been qualified support for the future of the industry from the industry group the Australian Solar Council (ASC).
“Already we have seen individual Aussie families invest more than $6 billion of their own money in solar PV systems” said John Grimes, CEO of the ASC.
“Australians are still keen to get their own clean solar power and are happy to use their own money for the vast majority of the investment cost, to take direct action for their own energy needs.”
“This RAA report show what a tiny impact solar PV support through the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES) has had on electricity bills, around two cents a day!” Mr Grimes added.
“The Solar Council supports the RAA’s call for no change to the SRES. Retaining that modest support measure will help the thousands of small businesses around the country to keep their workers employed and their businesses going – any changes will hit small businesses hard.” Mr Grimes said.
“Everyone’s looking at a much tougher environment this year, and next year’s going to be much tougher still,” Mr Brazzale added.
Just how tough 2014 will be depends largely on government policy, Mr Brazzale said.
Challenges range from uncertainty over the review of the Renewable Energy Target, now set at 20 per cent of power from renewable sources by 2020, and funding from the conservative Liberal-National government for its Million Solar Roof Program.
Before the election, the Coalition halved the program’s rebate to $500 a household but kept its target to add one million solar energy roofs by 2020.
The PV industry’s prospects depend on whether the government sticks to the goal and starts the program by next July as promised, Mr Brazzale said.
According to the association, more than one in five Australian households has solar PV and/or solar hot water systems.
Australia was the seventh-largest PV market in the world in 2012, when a rush by households to take advantage of generous feed-in tariffs, particularly in Queensland, saw a record 1038MW of capacity added.
