Power to, for and by the people is the essence of the Greens’ Community Renewable Energy Plan.
As we mentioned in June, dozens of communities throughout the nation have expressed a desire to develop community owned wind and solar farms; but few have received funding to assist in the early stages. At that point in time, a call went out for $50 million in funding to help kick-start these projects.
On Wednesday, the Australian Greens have launched a fully costed $100 million initiative over 5 years to provide funding for feasibility grants, project management and specialist expertise for community owned renewable energy projects.
“Communities across the country want their own clean energy generators, but setting them up, planning and applying for funding takes time, money and technical expertise,” said Australian Greens Leader Senator Christine Milne said.
“While the old parties want to find ways to help the big polluters pay less, the Greens are helping locals take control by giving them the resources they need to properly plan and find funding for clean energy projects.”
The program will allocate $100 million over five years from 1 July 2014 to the existing Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) to run a competitive tender program and would assist projects to the point where they are community investment-ready..
Under the Greens’ plan, once projects have been deemed feasible, ARENA could work cooperatively with the existing Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) to assist the community proponents to source concessional finance.
“It has worked overseas,” said Greens Deputy Leader Adam Bandt. “In Germany, for example, many smaller cities jointly own run-of-the-river hydro systems or bio-energy. In the United States, apartment dwellers without roof space invest in solar panels installed in parks and on community buildings.”
Further details of the Australian Community Renewable Energy Plan can be viewed here (PDF).
