Suburb-wide electrification trials to be rolled out across Australia in bid to fuel transition away from gas
Suburb-wide electrification trials to be rolled out across Australia in bid to fuel transition away from gas
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Project providing subsidies to install solar batteries and electric appliances part of Labor deal with crossbenchers. Suburb-wide electrification trials are set to be rolled out across the country under an intervention designed to help spark the household transition from gas.
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The climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, has formally directed the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena) to consider funding more pilots like Electrify 2515, a community-led initiative to electrify 500 homes in one postcode in Wollongong, NSW.
The pilot, the brainchild of local resident and Rewiring Australia co-founder Saul Griffith, offers subsidies to lower the upfront costs for households to install solar batteries and replace gas heaters, cooktops and hot water systems with electric alternatives.
The trial - backed by $5.4m in Arena funding - has received applications from more than 400 households in the 2515 postcode. With Arena-backed electrification projects already underway in SA and the NT, the agency will now look to fund trials in the ACT, WA, Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania following the minister’s direction.
The referral is the first time Bowen has used his ministerial powers to ask Arena to consider funding a specific type of project, and was part of a deal Labor struck last year with crossbenchers David Pocock, Jacqui Lambie, Lidia Thorpe and David Van to pass its Future Made in Australia laws.
