community renewable energy in australia

7/31/2019 Community renewable energy in Australia

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Lighter Footprints Renewable Energy ForumNorth Balwyn, Vic.Wednesday 16 May, 2012 at 7:00 pmDan Cass

Thank you Carolyn inviting me, and Ken for the kind introduction.

Lighter Footprints is an inspiration.

You areactive, organised and intelligentwell connected into politics, which is key to having influencedetermined to help humanity get out of this climate mess.

Hepburn Wind

going wellOur two beautiful turbines, Gusto and Gale, are installed and generatingclean energy at Leonards Hill, 10km south of Daylesford.

We also have an exciting partnership with Red Energy.

You can buy good green power through the Community Saver product,and pay your bills on time - of course - and in return, Red will donate$12.50 against each bill, to the Hepburn Wind Community Fund.

The Community Fund is the most generous in Australia, paying $15,000per turbine per year in grants to local groups.

Just this week the local paper reported that Wombat Forestcare group hada big find thanks to two new motion sensor cameras purchased by aCommunity Fund grant.

Cameras took night time photos of the nocturnal Brush-tailed Phascogale,a species listed as vulnerable.

We hope this data is useful to Government agencies and conservationscientists who are responsible for keeping watch over our native species.

The good news for everyone who accepts climate science, is thatrenewable energy is ready, here and now.

Even better news, human ingenuity, determination and competitionbetween firms and nations is bringing down the price of solar and otherclean technologies, making them competitive with coal and gas, just onnarrow economic terms, let alone the climate imperative.

The tipping point is finally here.

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Ive been asked to speak about local action.

There is a case to be made that local is where all the most excitingaction will take place, because energy is becoming decentralised, thanksto renewables.

The future for the grid is not centralised coal and gas power plantstransmitting through a monopoly network, all run by a cosy oligopoly of bigpolluters.

The future of the grid is energy everywhere - a smart network of energyproduction and consumption, linked together in the internet of things.

My suggestion therefore - start a community energy company of your own.

Lighter Footprints Global Energy Magnates, Incorporated.

This is the best way to make a difference.

Becausethere is nothing more hopeful and exciting than the rapid progress of

clean technologystarting the good is more effective than stopping the bad

Could you succeed?

You have the right internal factors:professionals in the local community, with valuable skills and networks:

business, public service, academia, professional services, engineering,teaching etc.

demonstrated that you can be cross party political, so you representwhole community

A relatively prosperous local community, with enough ready capital to startan enterprise

Solar is the technology to look at first - heres why.

Last week the NSW Parliamentary Secretary for Renewable Energy, RobStokes, spoke to a national forum on community renewable energy inSydney.

Mr Stokes cited 'Darkest before dawn', a new report from McKinsey &Company.

The report found that solar is already competitive with coal in somemarkets and its price will fall another 40 per cent by 2015.

Over this same period, consumers of conventional, black energy willcontinue to see their bills rise, dramatically.

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This combination of the inefficiency of centralised, conventional electricityand the improving economics of solar led McKinseys to the conclusion thatsolar could be worth US$1 trillion over the next eight years, with aneconomic potential at 2020 of 1 million megawatts.

You can plan now, on the basis of the price solar will be at in a few yearsand get ahead of the energy game.

What would your energy co-operative look like?

Hepburn Wind has 2000 members, who have invested $10 million, to builda $13 million wind farm. This will generate electricity equivalent toDaylesfords demand over the course of a year.

You could start smaller and do a project that has less risk and technicalcomplexity

How about 200 members, investing $1 million in solar panels locally?

Find public buildings like this one, or commercial properties and negotiateto build a community solar park. Or even do a bulk buy and install onhouseholds, like other communities in Victoria.

You should also investigate the options of 3rd party financing, to add to

your investor capital. The Labor-Greens Clean Energy Future package hascreated a $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation.

The Broadbent report on the CEFC has opened the door to investing someof the $10 billion in community renewable energy.

There is also private capital to draw on. In the USA there are biginvestments being made in solar lease products.

These mean that a company will install the solar system for free and the

debt is paid back against the cost savings made against rising conventionalelectricity prices.

My friend Danny Kennedys company Sungevity uses this finance modeland Sungevity is now the fastest growing solar installer in the USA.

Another option is to plug in to the smart grid model and go virtual.

You could build your Lighter Footprints solar farm somewhere sunnier thanlovely Balwyn.

How about Mildura, which has some of the most valuable solar resource inthe world?

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For example, your virtual energy utility could buy panels and install thembehind the electricity meter at big commercial or industrial facilities in sunnyMildura and sell the power to those customers.

Financial and organisational innovations like this, are the cutting edge forrenewable energy.

The technology is proven and cost effective. What we need now is toliberate new capital and drive down costs.

Federal Energy Minister Martin Fergusons solar flagships have beenshipwrecked on the rocks of bad policy, leaving Mildura frustrated that itstill lacks a big solar power plant.

Imagine how inspiring it would be if a community energy company built bigsolar in Mildura?

You could easily generate energy equivalent to the consumption of yourmany members.

Or you could be more ambitious and plan to grow and eventually offset theelectricity use of a whole municipality.

The internet of energy allows you to even go one step further and use yourinvestment to pay your home electricity bill.

The Clean Energy Collective in Colorado is leading the way, with a smartgrid technology called Virtual Net Metering.

People can invest in the CEC for little as $700 for 1 solar panel. The CECinstalls the panel as part of a large array and manage it for the investors.The electricity generated is credited against the investors bill.

On the internetofenergy, you dont have to be literally wired to yourpanel, to get the financial benefits from helping the planet.

An added benefit is convenience - the virtual energy generator companymanages the whole portfolio of solar installations.

There are also financial benefits to investing in a virtual energy company - itcan negotiate with suppliers and landholders for the best prices and buythe best technologies and put them in the best locations.

If you are serious, you can work with Embark - Hepburn Winds sister

organisation.

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Embark is a social venture established by Simon Holmes Court tosupport the growth of the community renewable energy sector. The visionis to help encourage the establishment of 100 community enterprises overa decade.

Lastly - a solar co-op has the added benefit that it does not run up againstthe state governments draconian anti-wind laws.

I believe there are many Liberals who are rational and mainstream. Theydo not subscribe to conspiracy theories about wind sickness, nor climatescience and are embarrassed to see policy formed not on the basis ofscience, but anecdote.

The mainstream in the Liberal party should win out before long andoverturn the wind setbacks. This will liberate $7 billion worth of investmentin Victoria, producing clean energy, jobs and regional developmentopportunities.

And dont forget that Hepburn Wind is still open to investors, in holdingsfrom as little as $1100. So while you work on your own communityrenewable energy company, you can invest in Australias first one.

Ill leave it there for now and look forward to our small group discussionafter a cup of tea.

[Put box of business cards? - take one.]Thank you for having me.

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community renewable energy in australia

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