It’s finally the end of 2020. While we’ve seen our communities badly affected by bushfire, floods, storms, and a pandemic, more recently we’ve seen huge commitments to transition our economy to a renewable powered future.
As we head into the holidays and look ahead to the New Year, we’d like to share some achievements of CPA and the whole energy sector. Read on for details of:
- State Governments leading on renewables
- Our 2020 projects & Opportunities for 2021
Wishing you all happy holidays with friends and family either in person or via phone as the case may be.
From all of us at Community Power Agency,
Kristy, Kim, Ella, Elizabeth, Fran and Jarra.
State Governments leading on Renewables
Towards the end of 2020 we saw a flurry of commitments from state governments across the country. Giving rise to the feeling that we are are reaching a tipping point towards a clean energy future.
There was lots of noise on twitter when these announcements landed which our very own Nicky Ison helped along and summarised by our friends at Environment Victoria below.
- It started with Queensland announced three Renewable Energy Zones (REZ) with 60GW of projects proposed from the market
- NSW then announced their landmark $32 billion Renewable Energy Superpower Plan including five Renewable Energy Zones calling for 12GW of renewable energy to be built and an additional 2GW for storage with bipartisan support
- Victoria came to the party by announcing $1.6 billion for in clean energy and plans to build the biggest battery in the southern hemisphere
- South Australia set a 500% renewables target by 2050
- Tasmania is now powered by 100% renewables (along with ACT) as well as announcing their plan to decarbonise their whole electricity and energy system via a 200% renewables target.
- And we can’t forget the very large renewables projects underway in WA with the Asian Renewable Energy Hub & in the NT with the Sun Cable project.
Additionally there have also announcements from several companies going 100% RE including huge electricity users like Woolworths, Aldi, Telstra and Bunnings.
Our 2020 Projects
This year the Haystacks Solar Garden project has taken a big chunk of our team’s time, with the all the hoop-jumping that comes with an innovative, first of its kind in Australia project. We are finishing up the year on a high with our DA approved and very close to our target of 400 members. We’re also calling out for folks to donate to fund social benefit plots of the solar garden.
Our other work this year encompassed working with Helen Haines’ team to develop the Local Power Plan (stay tuned for more details of our campaign early next year), facilitating a Community Reference Group for UPC Renewables at Uralla, speaking at forums across Queensland, NSW, Victoria and Aotearoa and supporting a bunch of community energy groups toprogress their visions.
Opportunities for 2021
For NSW folks we’re hearing the second round of the Regional Community Energy Fund will be announced early in the year, watch the NSW Government community energy webpage for updates.
All the best for the coming year.
