Step 16: Save money with solar
Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels are a great way to reduce your energy bills.
Since 2008, the cost of solar PV panels has fallen by 80%.[1] Government incentives such as ‘Small-scale Technology Certificates’ (STCs) and ‘feed-in’ tariffs have also provided financial assistance for people who have invested in solar power.
As a result, there has been a surge in the installation of solar PV panels – they now generate electricity on more than 1.41 million rooftops around Australia.[2] According to the Australian PV Institute, Australia now has over 4GW of rooftop solar PV – a four-fold rise since 2011. Every year, we’re now generating an estimated 5,250GWh of electricity from the sun.[3]
Solar is a great way to future-proof your business against rising energy prices and it’s being used by more and more companies. In a February 2013 survey, 79% of Australian SMEs understood that using solar could reduce their energy bills, and 60% of them said they had also considered using solar energy in their business.[4]
If you haven’t yet done so, why not install solar and start saving? This section will show you how to make the switch. It will also tell you all you need to know about storing solar power in batteries.
- 1. EnergyCut.info/economy-report
- 2. EnergyCut.info/CER-solar-uptake
- 3. EnergyCut.info/apvi-data
- 4. Research carried out by Colmar Brunton for My AGL IQ in February 2013.
