German solar energy company Degerenergie G.m.b.H. is setting up a new production facility in Australia.
"We see a huge potential for our M.L.D. tracking systems in Australia, above all on the market for medium sized power consumers," said Christopher Seng, international sales manager.
"With intelligent tracking, our systems achieve the worldwide highest yields and are thus tailor-made for the reliable local generation of low priced solar energy."
Degerenergie is a maker of single- and dual-axis solar tracking systems . It uses its patented "Maximum Light Detection" technology which the company says maximizes solar power plants yields.
Briefly, the technology ensures that solar modules are always aligned according to the brightest position in the sky.
The company claims that the overall energy yield of solar power plants with their M.L.D. tracking is up to 45 percent higher than that of fixed systems.
Favorable conditions
At the same time, Degerenergie is banking on favorable conditions for solar in Victoria and Queensland to drive demand for their products.
Both the transitional feed-in tariff scheme in Victoria and Queenslands Solar Bonus scheme allow small-scale PV systems producing 5 kilowatts or less to feed excess electricity generated by their systems back to the grid.
Victoria offers a rate of at least 25 cents per kilowatt-hour while Queensland offers 44 cents/kWh, said to be one of the most generous rates in Australia.
"The average customer operating a 1.5 kW solar system could save over $450 per year on their electricity bill just by using less electricity from the gird," said Stephen Robertson, Queensland energy minister, earlier this month.
According to Mr. Robertson, since the Bonus scheme was put into place in July of 2008, Queenslands PV capacity has increased from 3.2 megawatts to 200 MW, enough to power around 45,000 homes.
Degerenergie has been active on the Australian market for quite some time now, among other things with a government subsidized research project near Alice Springs.
With its local distribution partner Si Clean Energy, the German manufacturer some weeks ago completed a project in Urunga, New South Wales, with six solar trackers.
Degerenergie is based in Horb, Germany, with production sites in Germany, Canada and the United States. - Katrice R. Jalbuena
source: APEC-VC Korea
