The City of Newcastle Council in Australia is seeking expressions of interest (EOI) from service providers to deliver a ‘bulk buy’ community renewable energy programme for homeowners, landlords and small businesses.
The initiative in New South Wales’s second largest city will facilitate the uptake of a range of renewable energy technologies, such as rooftop solar PV, home battery energy storage systems (BESS) and electric vehicle (EV) chargers.
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Dubbed the ‘Newcastle Community Renewable Energy Bulk Buy Program’, the window to submit EOIs for the initiative will close on 19 November 2024, with plans to fully launch the programme in the first half of 2025, subject to the selection of service providers.
Michelle Bisson, executive director of planning and environment, for the City of Newcastle, hopes the initiative will help address the lack of rooftop solar PV on Newcastle’s homes, with the city below the state average of 35%.
“Just under 30% of residential buildings in Newcastle have solar, which is the lowest uptake of all councils in the Hunter and below the state average of 35%,” Bisson said.
“Studies have shown there are several barriers to switching to renewables, including people finding it too expensive and too complicated. Progressing renewable energy uptake is a key priority in our Community Strategic Plan and a major part of the Newcastle Environment Strategy, which aims to support the transition of the Newcastle local government area to net zero emissions by 2040.
Australia’s rooftop solar PV revolution
Readers of PV Tech will likely be aware of Australia’s rooftop solar PV penetration, with the highest capacity per capita in the world. This high install rate means that rooftop solar PV could overtake coal-fired power by the end of the year. A further 26.4GW could be added by the end of the decade bringing the total to 49.4GW.
Queensland currently leads the pack in Australia for the percentage of households that have rooftop solar PV installed with around 50.2%. Queensland has been an advocate for rooftop solar PV and has introduced varying government support to rapidly scale up however there are now fears this might slide with the appointment of a new right-wing government. This follows a trend in the rise of right-wing governments, embodied by the success of Donald Trump in the US election yesterday (6 November).
With Queensland taking the top spot for homes with rooftop solar PV, Victoria, which is eyeing 7.6GW by 2035, is “well behind other jurisdictions” in its rollout. The Climate Council revealed that only 28.1% of Victorian houses have solar PV installed, and this must increase to support its decarbonisation targets. Victoria’s population in 2024 stands at around 6,987,000 whereas Queensland’s sits at 5,586,000.
