Response to Victorian feed-in tariff announcement​

Environment Victoria has described proposed changes to the state’s solar feed-in tariff as underwhelming and unlikely to provide extra incentive to install solar power.

Environment Victoria Campaigns Manager Dr Nicholas Aberle said today:

“The increase of Victoria’s feed-in tariff from 5 cents to up to 7 cents does not create much additional incentive for people to put solar panels on their roofs. Under these proposed changes the environmental and social benefits of rooftop solar remain poorly valued and we continue to ignore the health benefits of burning less coal.

“If solar feed-in tariffs are not going to be set at levels that will expand the solar market then the Andrews government’s forthcoming Renewable Energy Action Plan will need extra new measures to accelerate the uptake of solar PV for households and businesses.

“While it is a positive sign that regulators like the Essential Services Commission (ESC) are starting to factor environmental and social benefits into their approach, we need to start valuing environmental and social benefits at a more realistic value than the government has proposed.

“The inclusion of a tariff for times of ‘critical peak’ demand is welcome, but we await to see what the actual value of that critical peak tariff will be and whether it helps strengthen the case for more solar installations.”