Clean Energy

WHY CLEAN ENERGY?

Australia’s stationary energy, which includes electricity derived from coal-fired power, is responsible for around 50 percent of our greenhouse gas emissions. Australia’s environmental, economic and energy security is at risk from climate change unless we can compete in a low carbon world. Any successful climate change solution must first target the energy sector.

Australia has some of the world’s best clean energy sources, many of which are already powering Australian homes and businesses. Our superior clean energy resources, like solar power, have the capacity to meet Australia’s growing energy needs while providing a clean powered, sustainable economy.

SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC

Solar Photovoltaic (PV) panels are typically located on the roofs of homes and businesses capture the sun’s energy and generate electricity cleanly and quietly. Light energy from the sun is converted directly into electricity by transferring sunlight photon energy into electrical energy. This conversion takes place within cells of specially fabricated semiconductor crystals.

It must be pointed out that solar cannot generate electricity all the time, however, it does generate electricity when it is needed most – during the day and on hot sunny days when electricity demand is at its peak driven by air-conditioners. Importantly, electricity is generated at the point of demand – where people live and work which means there is no need to transfer the energy long distances across expensive infrastructure.

GREENHOUSE GAS SAVINGS

In respect to the environment, Solar power is a zero-emission electricity source. One megawatt hour of solar-derived electricity avoids approximately one tonne of CO2. Without doubt solar power systemsdeliver considerable greenhouse gas savings.

In Australia solar PV power is installed on over 41,000 homes across Australia. At the end of 2008 we had over 100 megawatts of solar PV capacity installed nationwide – an increase of more than 25 per cent on the previous year. This is almost 0.7% of the global installed capacity.

Solar PV has a long history of supplying reliable ‘off grid’ power to remote and regional Australian communities. Around 70 percent of all PV installations are currently off-grid. However, with the introduction of recent government incentives, the number of grid-connected solar PV installations has grown and now accounts for about 30 percent of Australia’s total installed capacity.

As one of the sunniest continents in the world, there is massive potential for solar PV to make a significant contribution to electricity generation in Australia. Couple this unrivalled resource with a multitude of open spaces, and there is no reason why Australia cannot have large scale installations generating many megawatts of electricity for sale into the grid.

Globally, the annual solar PV market grew to 5,500 megawatts in 2008.The total cumulative PV power installed globally at the end of 2008 was almost 15,000 megawatts up from 9,000 megawatts in 2007. Germany, Spain, Japan and the USA dominate the solar PV industry accounting for 80 per cent of global capacity. The growth in these markets and the emergence of new markets in France, South Korea, Czech Republic and Portugal has driven a sixfold increase in global installed capacity over the last five years.

Integrated Technologies Australia is fully accredited to design and install renewable energy solutions. Our key personnel are accredited to design and install stand-alone power systems (SPS) and grid-connected (GC) power systems.