The Bill Shorten renewable energy plan includes a pledge to establish a community power hub in the NSW seaside town of Tathra if he becomes Australia’s next Prime Minister, the Bega District News reports.
If it goes ahead, the program will be Australia’s first community-owned power hub. The exact location of the Tathra hub is yet to be determined. However, the benefits should extend across NSW’s Sapphire Coast.
The hub will provide support for local community renewable energy project developments. This includes grants for new projects such as community solar installations and wind farms.
The proposed community hub comes under Labor’s $100 million Neighbourhood Renewable Energy Program, which aims to assist renters and social housing residents access cheaper and cleaner energy.
Tathra ‘ahead of the game’ on renewable energy
Shorten indicated Tathra was an ideal location for Australia’s first community hub, as the area is ahead of the game when it comes to renewables.
The town already has Australia’s first community-owned solar energy farm. The 120-panel 30 kW solar farm supplies around 50 per cent of the energy required to power the town’s sewage treatment plant.
The installation’s solar panels have also been arranged to form the word ‘IMAGINE’, which is visible from above and indicates the town’s commitment to clean energy.
The Tathra solar farm was an initiative of the region’s Clean Energy for Eternity (CEFE) group. CEFE has a goal of 50 per cent energy-use reduction as well as 50 per cent renewable energy by 2020. This has been dubbed the ‘50/50 by 2020 target’.
Program part of Bill Shorten renewable energy plan
Labor’s neighbourhood renewable energy program also forms part of the party’s overall energy policy.
As well as establishing community power hubs, Labor’s energy plan includes:
- 50 per cent renewables by 2030.
- Energy storage or ‘firming’ solutions to improve renewable energy security.
- Revival of LNP’s failed National Energy Guarantee policy.
- Doubling of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation’s original $10 billion capital fund.
- Establishing a $5 billion fund for energy security and modernisation.
Labor’s policy also includes battery rebates of $2,000 for up to 100,000 households to install energy storage batteries.
