Community

Labor’s Sunday solar schools announcement may not be the last renewables pledge it makes to win the hearts and minds of the NSW electorate. It takes into account the voice of climate-striking students, and every disaffected-teenage contribution to conversations around the dinner table.

The latest report from The Australia Institute corroborates solar’s pivotal role in shaving peak demand, particularly in the event of extreme conditions as seen in January. Renewables performed the best of all energy sources during the record-breaking summer of heatwaves, while coal clunkers were operating well below capacity, the findings confirm.

Stating NSW was once a world leader on climate change, a new Climate Council report notes the state is now far behind being home to Australia’s oldest fleet of coal-fired power generators. While NSW public is highly supportive of renewable energy, state government policies fail to encourage more wind and solar projects beyond 2020.

After announcing a policy to drive 9 GW of renewable energy within a decade if elected, NSW Labor has pledged to invest $11 million to train and accredit electricians to install and maintain the new solar energy infrastructure in the state.

The Victorian electricity distribution business has proposed network enhancements that aim to drive down power prices starting from 2021. It hopes to boost the safety and flexibility of the grid through the measures, which include network improvements to accommodate more solar and battery storage installations.

In the aftermath of January’s blackouts in Victoria and South Australia, public policy think thank Grattan Institute underlines that blaming renewable energy for supply failures is wrong and dangerous. The new report flies in the face of repeated claims by the Coalition government that renewables are undermining the reliability of electricity system.

As scorching heatwave drove up air conditioning power demand, faults at coal-fired power plants were directly responsible for blackouts across Victoria and South Australia. Extreme weather is debunking arguments for new fossil fuel generation, and signaling Australia’s energy security lies in renewables.

The Australia Institute’s first emissions audit of 2019 shows renewables pushing coal aside to reduce Australia’s emissions 20% below the peak recorded in 2008; and the load that January’s high temperatures would normally exert on the grid has been mitigated by high uptake of rooftop solar.

The opening of SolarShare’s Mount Majura Solar Farm to investors this week represents a significant milestone in the community-energy sector in Australia, says Nicky Ison, founding Director of the Community Power Agency. “It is the first community solar farm in Australia that is grid connected in front of the meter,” she says, and at 1 MW capacity it will also be the country’s biggest community-owned solar farm.

Melbourne University’s Energy Transition Hub has released an update on its popular OpenNEM data tool, adding historical data to the searchable stream of information on where Australia’s energy is coming from, how we use it and what it costs.