The NSW Coalition will introduce new rules making it easier for apartments going solar, including power storage if re-elected on Saturday.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian says the government will ease strata laws. As a result, it will be easier for strata committees to push through solar panels and energy storage systems.
The laws will reduce the owner committee voting threshold from 75 to 50 per cent. This will encourage owner corporations and owners corporations to take advantage of clean, green solar energy and install electric vehicle charging points.
NSW committed to boosting apartments going solar
The NSW government is committed to “practical action” on climate change. That’s the verdict of Energy Minister Don Harwin.
The Coalition will invest an extra $20 million in the state’s Emerging Energy Program. This will then boost private sector investment in utility-scale renewable energy and storage projects.
As a result, the program will co-fund around 40 MW of new large-scale, on-demand sustainable energy ventures. These include solar power, solar batteries, pumped hydro-electric and hydrogen production.
The state government currently has a large pipeline of nearly 19,000 MW of renewable projects, as reported by the Sydney Morning Herald. These are worth more than $26 billion.
It’s been difficult for the individual owners of apartments going solar. Hopefully the body corporate approach will prove more viable.
Government forging ahead with solar recycling program
If re-elected, the Berejiklian Government will also sink $10 million into a new recycling fund for solar panels and battery systems.
Thirty thousand tonnes of retired solar panels will enter Australian landfill by 2030, according to the government.
In January, the Total Environment Centre (TEC) urged state and federal governments to adopt solar recycling. These programs could prevent hazardous materials potentially contaminating landfill sites.
The Australian Council of Recycling is also calling for a national program to recycle solar power storage systems. Similar schemes for computers, televisions and mobile phones have already been successful.
Climate change key issue in federal and state elections
A ReachTell poll taken last week showed two-thirds of Australians want Government to take immediate, serious action on climate change.
More than 63 per cent of those polled and nine out of 10 Labor voters supported this view.
A poll carried out by the Sydney Morning Herald also shows 57.5 per cent of NSW voters will vote on the basis of climate change measures in the March 23 election.
Meanwhile, a high-tech Sydney apartment block has become its own energy retailer. The Burcham in Rosebery is using a 53 kW solar panel system to generate energy for its residents via an embedded energy network. In this case apartments going solar is not an individual owner’s responsibility.
