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Go Solar and Join the Jones

Go Solar and Join the Jones

Going solar isn't going solo

You might be going it alone for your electricity, but whether you are aware of it or not, you are also joining a kind of wholesale electricity redistribution movement. More than 1.2 million Australian households - that is nearly 3 million people who now have solar power - up a staggering amount from almost nothing (7,400 households) just over 7 years ago.  With an average solar household supplying 65% of their power needs from the roof, that is a huge loss for electricity companies.

While solar power has the appeal of independence in the face of ridiculous energy prices and doing your bit for the environment, people solar power has an extremely important role to play in the redistribution of influence and competition in the wholesale energy sector. It is important to realise that the power of utilities companies is slowly being eroded as electricity production is decentralised into the tiny cells of a household roof. 

The real point here for the guy with the bunch of photo voltaic cells on his roof is that the benefits of this renewable energy source are flowing back to him and out of the oligarchic fingers of the energy companies. Every dollar you don't spend on an electricity bill probably makes you very happy and richer, but your actions are also contributing to more renewable energy jobs, funding better technology and creating an even more competitive electricity environment. 

And individual households aren't the only players. At the same time, communities are building solar farms, companies are putting mini power stations on their roofs and on their properties. And the change has only just begun. With community solar farms for instance, even renters can access solar power.

Will Australia reach the same levels as Germany, where electricity providers only supply one tenth of all renewable electricity? Surely solar will finally be a paradigm shift for the old guard in the electric industry. Another dinosaur bound for extinction?

Image: Vaclav Volrab/Shutterstock

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