High hopes for local pilot

The Illawarra Flame reports

Thirroul has hosted Extinction Rebellion art in its park, Mother Earth graffiti on its pool wall and packed talks by Rewiring Australia founder Dr Saul Griffith. On Friday, February 17, the village was once again the focus of climate change action.

NSW Treasurer and Minister for Energy Matt Kean, accompanied by Heathcote MP Lee Evans, came to town to unveil a new $8 million program to pilot innovative ways to fully decarbonise homes in up to three communities in NSW.

Mr Kean said: “We know that the community here in Thirroul is very excited about the opportunity to participate.”

Thirroul resident Catherine Renshaw shared her perspective on the announcement, saying any help from the government in electrifying family homes was “a no-brainer”.

“We put solar panels on our roof, just back in September,” she said. “And we’ve already noticed the difference in our electricity bills. They’ve gone down to about a third of what they were before.

“As a parent, it’s really important that we can do our best and do our bit to support efforts to combat climate change.”

Set to start in the second half of 2023, the government program will involve partnering with the private sector to test ways to upgrade to a zero-emissions home in three different communities: urban, regional and remote.

Mr Kean said that the cost of electrifying a community could be “around $4 to 5 million”.

“We think the program will cover the three communities that will seek to electrify.

“We’re looking for partner organisations that can help … to ensure that we can roll out technologies like batteries, heat pumps and solar panels … It’s a voluntary program, so people can opt into it.”

Energy expert Dr Saul Griffith, author of The Big Switch, welcomed the news and said local group Electrify 2515 would “absolutely” be applying.

“Our community is already applying for money through ARENA, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, to do the technology components of a community pilot,” he said.

An Austinmer resident, Dr Griffith has supported the campaign to Electrify 2515 since it launched in August 2022. The group’s initial goal was to get expressions of interest from 500 households. They met that in the first week, soon had double that number and enthusiasm for becoming Australia’s first fully electrified community continues to grow.

“What Kristen has done, and her fellow volunteers at [Electrify] 2515, is extraordinary and shouldn’t be underestimated,” Dr Griffith said.

“With the groundswell, from bottom up, the involvement in Electrify 2515 is extraordinary.”

“We’re a group of volunteers that have come together and we wanted to show that electrification isn’t just some abstract idea,” Kristen McDonald said. “It’s something that the community really supports and the community wants.

“We all know that the upfront cost of installing many of these items is really prohibitive for so many homes. And that’s where governments can step in and help overcome those barriers.

“We support any kind of investment in a clean energy solution – we’d love it to be in ours, but we also really actually want it to be in every single community across Australia.”

Dr Griffith said the Energy Minister had “done a good job” with the pilot program.

“But if we are really to tackle climate change the way we need, on the time-frame we need, we need much bigger commitments.”

Electrify 2515 counts electric vehicles as part of the home electrification process.

In Dr Griffith’s estimation, to electrify a community of 1000 to 2000 people could currently cost $20 million. “If Australia did a similarly ambitious program [to the US], that would be a $50 billion, $60 billion federal commitment to electrification.

“The good news for Australia, though, is we shouldn’t be thinking about it as an expense. Over time we’re going to save so much money, mostly because we’ll be driving our cars using our solar.”