Senior Abbott MP Concedes Australians Ready to Leave the Grid
January 31st, 2015Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in NZ.
Via: RenewEconomy:
A senior member of Australia’s ruling Coalition has conceded that Australian consumers are ready to leave the grid, and rely instead on solar and storage, and suggested that state-owned assets such as electricity networks need to be sold quickly before they lose too much value.
The admission was made on ABC News Radio on Friday morning by Steve Ciobo, a parliamentary secretary in the Tony Abbott government and the Federal Member for Moncrieff, in Queensland, where the state government is looking to privatise its energy assets.
The comments are interesting because it is the first time that a senior Abbott government member has acknowledged that rooftop solar and the emergence of battery storage is going to disrupt the market and devalue network assets.
It is signifiant because it recognises what is widely accepted within the industry itself – that cleaner and distributed energy is going to grow, and underlines why the Coalition governments in Queensland and NSW are keen to privatise their electricity grid sooner rather than later.
“If you look at for example, the poles and wires business, there is no doubt that there is massive change happening,” Ciobo said in the interview.
“That’s a market where I have little doubt in the future that you’ll see more and more people drop off the electricity grid, because they’ve got batteries and solar panels. So I think that the sooner we lease assets like that and realise their value, the better, because it’s an asset that just becomes worth less every single day.”
Related: Australia: Networks Told They Need to Play Fair with Solar Customers, or Die
Gotta confess some cynicism regarding the motivation.
The Australian history on electric utility privatization looks largely like a state grab for short-term $$$.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_Trust_of_South_Australia