Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Murray Darling Basin) Share this | Hansard source

I move opposition amendment (2) on sheet 6154 revised:

(2)    Schedule 1, page 62 (after line 26), after item 116, insert:

116A  At the end of section 21

Add:

        (4)    If a solar water heater is an air source heat pump water heater, certificates may only be created for the installation of such an air source heat pump water heater if it has a volumetric capacity of not more than 425 litres.

This amendment quite simply seeks to put in place a cap for the eligibility of heat pump water heaters and places that cap at 425 litres. This figure has been agreed to on the basis that it provides a differential between commercial installations and residential installations. Most of these incentives around hot water services, solar systems and the like are targeted at residential installations, and we believe that is reasonable here. All senators would be aware that there are concerns about the extent to which heat pump water heaters have contributed to the generation of RECs and whether they have contributed unreasonably at the expense of others. That is not a debate I want to buy into on this one in particular, but we are seeking here very clearly to set a limit, and 425 litres is one that we have discussed with industry. We have engaged in consultation in that regard to attempt to find a reasonable point and we think that this is a reasonable point for such a cap to be put in place.