Abstract
The recent emergence of low-cost Photovoltaics (PV) is examined in the Australian context. Rooftop PV for buildings in Australia is now able to deliver daytime electricity at a price well below that sourced from coal or gas fired generators through the grid; and has been installed in over 2 million Australian homes in less than a decade. This now means that energy efficiency approaches for addressing carbon reduction in the built environment need to be reassessed and only implemented if they are at a lower cost than rooftop PV. In addition, PV offsite generation is increasingly cost-effective. For example, the University of New South Wales has recently announced a Power Purchase Agreement to cover 100% of its electricity demand sourced from an offsite solar farm. This offer was the lowest in price and involved zero subsidies.
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Sproul, A. (2019). Rooftop Photovoltaics: Distributed Renewable Energy and Storage (or Low-Cost PV Changes Everything). In: Newton, P., Prasad, D., Sproul, A., White, S. (eds) Decarbonising the Built Environment. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7940-6_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7940-6_3
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