Yesterday I attended the NSW Government’s Solar Summit in Newcastle, along with around 200 others.
There are several ways you could peceive the day, depending on your expectations and hopes for outcomes.
FWIW, my expectations were pretty low; I only ever expected it to be a bit of a talk fest with the hope of a few meaningful discussions that might influence the shape of things to come for the solar industry. The agenda, which was only released the day before, kind of suggested this would be the case with a packed agenda and a huge diversity of panelists and presentations; a long way from a pure “solar tariff solution” agenda.
The fact only 3 PV speakers were on the agenda, forewarned of the day.
On the positive side, the diveristy of views was valuable to me, if a litle confronting at times. Hearing from IPART, esteemed academics on energy policy and even the Electricity Retailers Association provided a good sense of the complexity in the debate. We heard a range of views on the broader issues of energy policy and an update on energy and renewables policy from around the world.
On the downside, it was like a sermon for the converted and I doubt many in the room intended to give up a day to hear generics about an industry we are already involved in and have studied for years. I know several key delegates walked out in disgust and caught early flights home. That’s pretty telling.
Reading between the lines, you could have easily got the sense that the pv industry was invited to be taught that ”the real issue is base load power, the nuclear debate needs to be discussed and really, PV is a tiny issue which irritates the crap out of everyone not in the industry“.
The CEO of AUSES, John Grimes changed the dimension of the meeting mid morning, however. He took the opportunity to make the statement that many were thinking; ” we came here because the Minister inferredwe would be working on a solution for the industry, and who from today have no program for PV in NSW, and this agenda is not going to deliver it; its wasting everyone’s time” He ws brutally correct and dropped the elephant in the room in our collective laps.
This question (statement) was not responded to but it created a palpale sense of tension for the diverse crowd.
Within 20 minutes or so, I was asked to join a dozen or so others for a backroom meeting with several key Government figures, lead by John. I couldn’t decide whether this was to remove the tension from the meeting and stroke us with platitudes or was a genuine attempt to listen, but we did get a hearing and had some good debate on what was urgently needed.
For this alone, John’s gutsy punt was justified; all the real negotiations take place in back rooms, and this made my day entirely worthwhile.
We were advised that the Minister was going to imminently hold a press conference and would announce an IPART review into the true value of PV; but it would take 6 months or more. Our response was that we desperately wanted to participate and ensure the terms of reference were balanced BUT the industry could not wait. We discussed interim packages, and hope to follow up early next week.
So, was I dissapointed? No; because my expectations were low but yes because I hoped the Government might take the issue more seriously.
All up, a fascinating day with small progress but progress nonetheless. But then, I dont have 100staff and millions of dollars of solar panels at stake; I feel for the industry who don’t have certainty.
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