2020 IB Extended Essays

Figure 1.3 Number of solar panels installed in Australia (Chakrabarti, 2019)

By 2018, 2 million households in Australia had solar panels on their rooftops, which is the equivalent

of 1 in 5. If this rate is to continue, 50% of Australia’s households will have solar panels by the year

2025. This is a hopeful estimate, and biased due to its reliance on the past history on the installation

rates of solar systems which have fluctuated dramatically before as seen in figure 1.3. If this

estimation is accurate, then it is positive for the subsidy. However, the Australian government has

announced that they will be reducing the deeming period (Where one STC (small scale technology

certificate) is given for every 1000KWH for 15 years) by one year, each year. This reduction in the

deeming period essentially means that the quantity of the subsidy will be reduced each year.

This reduction was announced on the 1 st of January 2017 and will end on the 1 st of January 2031

which effectively means that the subsidy will conclude in 2031. (Bloch, 2018)

While this may have a positive impact on the sales of solar panels manipulating consumers to buy it

before they have to pay the full price, there is also the possibility of it having an adverse effect

whereby people will simply stop buying it, deeming them to be too expensive.

Table 1.1 below, shows how small-scale solar panels have contributed a large quantity of energy to

the total sum of energy produced. Renewable energy provides over 20% of total and household solar

is 4.2% of the total amount, which is a large increase from 2018 which had a total output of 8,132

GWh compared to 2019 which had an output of 9,452GWh. Along with this large increase in energy

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