Speech at Powering our Suburbs forum, Blacktown, NSW
Friends, it’s a pleasure to be with you today in my home community, on beautiful Darug Country whose elders I acknowledge and celebrate. Thank you to Heidi, Solar Citizens, the Multicultural Leadership Initiative and Australian Asians for Climate Solutions for bringing us together. I’m excited to be here today in a busy time, as we deal with the implications of a global energy supply chain crunch, particularly the supply of petrol which has seen a 100 per cent increase in demand for petrol over the last 10 days, which has provided some challenges.
Today I announced the latest in our efforts to assist with the release of some of our strategic reserve to assist those in regional areas. And that’s of course an appropriate and important focus for us this week. It’s also the case that there is no way that the problem in the Middle East can interrupt the flow of sun to our land or that Vladimir Putin can interrupt the flow of wind to our country.
And that renewable energy is a reliable form of energy, as well as the cheapest form of energy. So that longer term journey is important as well. And it’s appropriate that we gather here in Blacktown.
Because this region, and regions like it in Australia are powering our energy transformation. There are some in politics who argue that action on climate change is an inner-city obsession, with people in the regions and suburbs less supportive. Well, the people of the Western Suburbs of Sydney have a different view.
And they express it by their actions. There are more solar panels in Blacktown than Bondi. There are more EVs in Penrith than Paddington.
People in this community know that what’s good for the planet is good for their pocket. This is also reflected in take up of our cheaper home battery program. Take my electorate of McMahon.
Before July 1 last year, there were 394 home batteries in registered in my electorate. Eight months later there are over 2,700. Take up of cheaper home batteries in my electorate is more than 4 times greater than in Australia’s wealthiest electorate, Wentworth.
It’s a similar story when it comes to EVs. In NSW the highest take up of our EV discount is in the suburbs of Kellyville and Rouse Hill. Suburbs it would take just a percent or two of your battery capacity to reach from here.
To drive the streets of Blacktown, Parramatta and Fairfield these days is to cruise around Polestar Parade and BYD Boulevard. Friends, I have a couple of key messages for you today. First: Progress.
Our hard work is paying off. The last quarter of last year was the first quarter in Australian history in which we got more than half of our electricity from renewable energy. Electricity emissions in the year to September last year were down 3%, and the emissions intensity of electricity fell to its lowest ever level.
And this quarterly record also tells a deeper story. That same quarter which saw renewable energy reach new highs also saw record electricity use and demand. We had heat waves.
Long ones. Bad ones. The sort of heat waves that would usually see energy ministers taking to the airwaves to ask people to turn off appliances.
But a funny thing happened. It wasn’t necessary because we had plenty of electricity. Plenty of renewable energy, that is.
The pounding sun was no longer a liability, but an asset. During these hot days, solar was providing more than 60% of the power being used in the national grid. And about two-thirds of that was from Australian roofs.
Solar citizens to the rescue! You might say. And importantly, the pipeline is strong.
The last Australian Energy Market Operator connections report shows 64 gigawatts of renewable energy in the pipeline. That's up 14 per cent in a quarter. And of course, I mentioned the suburban uptake of cheaper home batteries.
But it’s also part of a bigger picture. As of today, 273,800 households have installed a cheaper home battery. That’s more than 6 gigawatt hours of capacity, which is a doubling of capacity of our home battery network in eight months.
Or let me put it another way. It took Australia 10 years to install our first 6 gigawatt hours of home battery capacity, and eight months to install our second. And of course this progress is part of a broader story, with emissions falling by 8.5 million tonnes in the year to September with year on year transport emissions falling for the first time ever outside of COVID.
But we know the job isn’t finished. A lot done. A lot more to do.
Renters. Apartment dwellers. Low-income households.
Lots of you have raised these issues with me. Solar Citizens certainly has. And quite right.
Because there is more work to do to ensure that every Australian, including renters and apartment dwellers have access to the benefits of renewable energy. But, equally, it’s important to recognise that the Government has already put in place policies to start to make a difference. Like our $800 million investment in the Social housing with states and territories, which has already seen 20,000 dwellings upgraded and 80,000 more to receive improved energy efficiency, thermal shell and renewable energy upgrades.
Like our Community Battery program. Around 400 neighbourhood batteries across Australia. Here in Western Sydney, they’re already operating in Blaxland, Bidwill, Cabramatta, Hobartville, Lidcombe and Padstow.
The Padstow battery is remarkable one. It will allow around 10,000 homes and apartments to access cheaper stored solar energy –delivering savings of around $200 a year. To be clear, this includes renters, apartment dwellers and households without solar.
Second, Community Solar Banks. Last year, the Prime Minister and I joined Keith in Ashfield. Keith over many years, convinced his strata committee that the economics of installing solar onto the apartment building just made sense.
They were one of the first in NSW to install rooftop solar on the apartment building. And the other residents, are very happy with what it’s done to their bills. We need more of that.
That’s why we’re rolling out our $75 million investment helping up to 25,000 households – including renters and apartment residents – access solar. In NSW, this is being delivered through the Solar for Apartment Residents Program, which has already received more than 600 applications. One in three homes have solar.
Only one in twenty-five apartments have access to solar. We must narrow that divide. But we also are thinking of new, smart innovative ways to share the benefits of solar.
Including for renters. This takes me to our Solar Sharer Offer. From 1 July, millions of Australians – including renters – will be able to access up to 24 kilowatt hours of free power for three hours a day.
Australia now has more rooftop solar capacity than the remaining fleet of coal-fired power stations. In the middle of the day, wholesale prices are often very low – sometimes negative. Solar Sharer simply makes better use of the abundant sunshine we already have.
It’s practical. It’s common sense. And it ensures that rather than wasting our solar resources - the benefits are shared more broadly.
The solar sharer offer will be offered in NSW from 1 July to customers with smart meters. We can do things like this because we are blessed with world-leading solar resources. That includes our sun but also our solar expertise.
We are a global leader in solar innovation. In fact, the modern solar panel is in effect an Australian invention, with almost every solar panel in the world containing technology pioneered at the University of NSW, through the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics led by the Australian National Treasure, Professor Martin Green. And now, the experts at the centre are working tirelessly on improving the efficiency and performance of solar panels even further.
That’s why in 2022 we extended funding for the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics with $45 million of support through ARENA. And today I can announce we’re committing a further $95 million through ARENA to accelerate further research into ultra low-cost solar. But innovation isn’t just happening in laboratories.
It’s happening in garages and living rooms. It’s happening with batteries on wheels in our driveways. Treasury modelling shows a fully electrified household with solar, and a battery can save around $4,300 a year – even after upfront and financing costs.
Electric vehicles can power homes. Batteries and home energy management systems allow real-time energy management. Smart air conditioners can cool homes when it’s cheapest for the grid.
This is the consumer energy resources revolution. We used to be passengers. Recipients of energy.
We had some choice of which big energy company to buy our coal fired power from but that was it. Now we are prosumers. Producers and consumers of energy.
We have power stations on our roofs and storage facilities in our garages and driveways. We are now building a two-way, decentralised grid. If integrated properly, this technology can avoid costly network upgrades, reduce generation costs, and save billions.
By 2040, better integration of consumer energy resources could deliver $19 billion in economic benefits. Effective coordination of consumer energy resources can avoid up to $7.2 billion of additional spending on grid-scale storage in the NEM to 2050. But this is a new world.
We need proper standards and careful co-ordination. We need to avoid the 21st century equivalent of the standard vs wide gauge railway problem by ensuring that suppliers of Consumer Energy Resources meet certain standards of inter-operability. Smart air conditioners should talk to batteries to keep the room cool or warm using the batteries at the right time.
EV chargers need to charge more than one model of car. Chargers need to be able to talk to batteries and appliances to ensure maximum efficiency. Consumers should have confidence their technology works seamlessly, regardless of the brands they choose.
We expect this from our other daily technology. You can visit any webpage you like – regardless of whether they have the same internet provider as you. Likewise your phone can call any number, whether it’s the same phone service or not.
The same must be true of how our energy saving tools work too. That’s why we are acting on the recommendation of the National Consumer Energy Resources roadmap and establishing a National Technical Regulator for consumer energy resources. And today I can confirm the Clean Energy Regulator will be our preferred agency to take on this role.
To those not familiar, there are more than 273,000 reasons we can have faith in the Clean Energy Regulator. They have regulated the Cheaper Home Batteries program successfully. They have overseen world-leading small-scale renewable schemes.
They are ready. And they will ensure compliance with technical standards to deliver interoperability, so Australians get full value from their investments. And so, we are going to get the CER (the Clean Energy Regulator) to regulate CER (Consumer Energy Resources).
Australia is rich in sun and wind. Renewable energy is the cheapest form of new generation in this country. The sun does not send a bill.
Geopolitics can’t stop the sun shining in Australia. No war can stop the flow of wind to our country. It makes sense to use what we have in abundance.
Australians understand that turning empty roof space and garage space into power plants makes economic sense. Our job is to ensure everyone can share in those benefits – no matter where they live or what type of home they live in. We will continue reforming the system.
We will continue backing practical solutions. And we will continue making sure the clean energy transformation delivers for all Australians. Thank you for your advocacy.
And let’s keep going. We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.