Electricity grid fails to cope with solar power systems.

Every time this matter has been raised we have been told by solar advocates that it will work and to stop being alarmist. While the main issue has in the past been, the unreliability of alternative power, necessitating massive standby generation from conventional sources, here we see clear evidence that the grid itself cannot cope:

THE solar power revolution is in danger of stalling, with the State Government admitting the electricity grid is failing to cope with its green vision.

Energy Minister Stephen Robertson confirmed new applications for rooftop solar systems were being rejected in areas where Queensland's high uptake threatened the safety and reliability of its network. …

Energex said the state's electricity network since the 1950s had been designed to deliver power from the station to the home and the voltage now heading "the other way" was causing a huge dilemma.

Following advice from engineering experts, no more systems will be automatically approved when the penetration of solar photovoltaic systems hits 30 per cent in neighborhoods.

Shonky operators plague the installation industry, which has benefitted from a huge amount of money being poured in by the federal and state governments. There have been numerous complaints of poor workmanship, rip offs, hidden charges, and worthless warranties from companies that had disappeared.

Some of the worst offenders in the solar industry had previously been involved in the Commonwealth's failed pink bats insulation scheme that resulted in widespread rorting, burnt down houses and the deaths of four installers. It seems that the shonky bat installers have made the transition to shonky solar ones.

Prior to this, Queensland’s solar hot water rebates, became Bligh’s equivalent to the pink bats scheme:

More than 400 systems funded by the Government's solar hot water rebate scheme were found to be faulty or illegally installed on the Gold Coast alone, with hundreds more discovered in Brisbane.

Faults include a failure to install temper valves, which prevent people being scalded, and the use of plastic pipes instead of copper. Some systems have been installed by people with no proper qualifications.

A spokesman said the Government had been warned the systems should be inspected before the rebates were paid but this had been ignored.

Gold Coast City Council planning committee chairman Ted Shepherd said more than a third of the 1080 rebate-funded solar hot water systems installed on the Coast were found by council inspectors to be defective or installed by unlicensed or unqulaified plumbers.

Meanwhile we wait for the next big government funded idea.