Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen has used ministerial referral powers to direct the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) to consider funding community solar electrification projects in every state and territory.
Communities across Australia are already seeing the benefits of the clean energy transformation but Bowen said this direction could help accelerate the rollout of rooftop solar, residential batteries, energy efficient appliances and shared community energy storage.
Bowen said ARENA funding will allow chosen projects to act as test beds for the regulatory changes needed to scale up renewable energy use and examine how government support can help achieve electrification.
“ARENA pilot projects supporting home electrification will help create valuable insights into how households can transition to renewables and smart energy systems to cut energy costs and reduce emissions,” he said.
The scheme is to build on the Electrify 2515 Community Pilot, which late last year secured $5.4 million (USD 3.38 million) in ARENA funding to support the electrification of 500 homes in the Illawarra region of New South Wales.
ARENA-backed electrification projects are also underway in South Australia and the Northern Territory but the agency has now been directed to also look at funding projects across the Australian Capital Territory, Western Australia, Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania.
“It is important that suburb-wide or community electrification demonstration projects are trialled in every state and territory in Australia to feed vital information and data back to ARENA, energy and electricity network companies, and governments about how best to roll out household electrification around the country,” Bowen said.
ARENA is expected to call for electrification projects that demonstrate clear community benefits. Projects will be subject to a final independent assessment by the agency’s board.
Rewiring Australia co-founder and Chief Scientist, Dr Saul Griffith welcomed the move, saying he expects the projects will deliver rich insights into how consumers and tradespeople use and install technologies.
“Rural, regional and suburban households have the most to gain from electrification but more research is needed to understand how to make it easy and affordable for everyone,” he said.
“If Australia wants to lead the world, we need to understand consumers and installer sentiment and purchasing decisions, shape local government and energy regulatory policies and practices and create new business models to deliver the change.”
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