Aussie musicians to fund PV roll-out to offset touring emissions

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
Cloud Control's Heidi Lanffer (pictured, left) said artists must build a

Australia’s green-minded musicians have been urged to “reshape the environmental legacy” of touring by co-funding solar PV farms.

The Future Energy Artists (FEAT) scheme will offer artists a chance to own stakes in renewable projects across the country, starting with a 34.55MW PV park under development in Queensland.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
  • Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
  • Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

Musicians investing in the Brigalow Solar Farm and future ventures will earn annual returns when the power is sold back to the grid.

The FEAT initiative, launched coinciding with World Environment Day celebrations on 5 June, is a partnership with Brigalow’s developer – the Impact Investment Group – and superannuation fund Future Super.

The scheme is the brainchild of Heidi Lenffer, keyboard player at alternative rock outfit Cloud Control. Other musician backers emerging so far include rock band Midnight Oil, singer Vance Joy and nine others.

In a blog post this week, Lenffer said FEAT aims to give artists “skin in the game” and a chance to establish a “lasting, powerful relationship” with the planet they tour.

“These are investments, not donations. Artists will be making hardcore solar infrastructure investments and can expect to see annual returns. You could think of it like ‘solar royalties’”, Lenffer told fellow musicians, adding that minimum investments have been set “as low as possible”.

Lenffer said she realised emission offsetting would not be enough last year, after calculating with scientists that a typical national tour – 15 shows, 44 flights – would leave an Australian band with a footprint of 28 carbon tonnes.

The solar embrace of Australia’s musician ranks follows a heated election campaign in the country, leading to a surprise victory of Liberal prime minister Scott Morrison on 18 May.

Before its defeat, the Labor opposition had proposed to boost PV capacity – 9.76GW as of last December, according to IRENA – via a AU$1 billion (US$704 million) solar schools programme, among other measures.

See here for more information on the FEAT initiative and here for more background on the 34.5MW Brigalow project

25 November 2025
Warsaw, Poland
Large Scale Solar Central and Eastern Europe continues to be the place to leverage a network that has been made over more than 10 years, to build critical partnerships to develop solar projects throughout the region.

Read Next

July 1, 2025
French private equity firm Ardian Clean Energy Evergreen Fund (ACEEF) has bought 117 solar PV plants, worth 116MW of total capacity in several locations in Italy.
July 1, 2025
A five-year research initiative is underway in Australia to test the viability of floating solar systems on irrigation dams.
June 30, 2025
Voting on the US tax reconciliation bill is expected to begin in the Senate today, following a draft published on Friday that hit clean energy tax credits hard.
June 30, 2025
Australian module manufacturer Tindo Solar has secured a 30MW solar module supply agreement to power Australia's first "net zero pipeline”.
June 27, 2025
Renewables investment platform Nexwell Power has signed a round of power purchase agreements (PPAs) with “one of the largest” US tech companies for solar PV capacity to be built in Spain.
June 27, 2025
Statkraft has signed PPAs with Better Energy to purchase energy from two solar power plants in Poland with a total capacity of 64GWh.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
July 1, 2025
London, UK
Solar Media Events
July 1, 2025
London, UK
Media Partners, Solar Media Events
July 2, 2025
Bangkok, Thailand
Media Partners, Solar Media Events
September 2, 2025
Mexico City, Mexico
Solar Media Events
September 16, 2025
Athens, Greece