Anyone watching the current COP, is probably thinking that governments and businesses cannot (or will not) solve the problem of emissions and climate change by themselves. Even when trying, they face the difficulties of corporations taking land from local people, paying some people but not others creating new inequalities, disrupting local social relations, despoiling established environmental aesthetic, or use, values, and so on.
There has to be a way forward, other than repeating the actions we have made for the last 30 or so years of climate action.
Community Power Agency and researchers from UTS and Melbourne University suggest that one way around this problem is to encourage Community Renewable Energy (CRE), as CRE projects can be sensitive to local concerns, can allocate money fairly, can look after the land, and reduce ecological destruction. They can potentially link and distribute energy from farms and rooftops, and develop political self-reliance and competency. Furthermore, they can keep money spent on energy in the local area to develop new industries or support established ones. Critically, as climate change increases, CRE offers a more resilient energy system, less vulnerable to grid disruptions and supply challenges.
Community energy involves energy controlled, produced and possibly funded by a community organisation. More formally, CRE occurs when community members are involved in energy projects through at least two of the following functions:
• As funders (be they owners, lenders or donors);
• As decision-makers (especially with respect to design. installation and delivery), and/or;
• As recipients of the benefits (financial, social, environmental or others).
Community energy was not feasible with fossil fuels, because large continuing investment is required in both plant and fuel. However, renewable energy (particularly solar) can be cheap and modular, so it can be built at a rate which reflects the money available, and it does not require the costs of continual refuelling as does fossil fuel or nuclear energy. This allows groups to undertake (and grow) smaller, economically feasible CRE projects. Indeed some local groups, like CEFE in the Bega region, are providing CRE one community rooftop at a time. Nation-wide local enthusiasm for renewables is also shown by the large take up of rooftop solar in Australia which is now approaching the levels of levels of coal burning energy.
Rooftop solar smashes records, sends coal and demand to new lows as it reshapes the grid
The CPA report involves the largest survey of Community energy organisations ever undertaken in Australia. The nation-wide survey suggests that there is considerable enthusiasm for CRE (over 142 groups, with 55 responses to the survey). Ninety four percent of responses suggested that people considered climate change to be a prime motivator for action. So CRE is, even now, enabling people to act on climate without waiting for governments or business.
However, CRE is being held back largely because of:
• A high dependency on volunteers who may experience burnout or frustration;
• Difficulties raising funds;
• Regulations and support designed for corporately provided power;
• Confusion over the help available, with insufficient organisational and expert support, and;
• Over the last few years, difficulties with Covid and climate conditions.
Despite these difficulties, the sector has grown significantly in recent years. Thirty of the fifty five responding groups were established after 2015. Groups self-reported over 44,000 supporters of various depth of connection, and were involved in 750 projects. They reported raising over $80 million dollars and producing 19,000 MWh of clean energy. Sixty four percent of groups reported being organised as incorporated associations.
While CRE is producing a small amount of Australia’s needs, this level of activity strongly suggests that with help, favourable regulation and clarity, more areas could self-supply, particularly in rural and regional Australia, where the costs of maintaining the grid is considerable.
In brief, the report recommends that:
• Governments set aside funding for community energy and capacity building hubs;
• Governments talk to community energy organisations, to find out the regulatory and other problems that they face;
• The Federal government establishes a nationally based Community Energy Collaboration Network to support community energy groups, and centralise information. At the moment, despite the best efforts of some organisations, helpful information is dispersed and hard to find;
• State governments set community energy targets;
• State governments help to establish a reasonable feed-in tariff, or other arrangement (such as P2P trading), whereby community energy does not lose all its profit to the grid, or town supplier.
Community Renewable Energy provides considerable hope for towns in Australia to participate in the energy transition, without waiting for others to act. It is clearly already possible to act now, but it would be even better if CRE received the recognition and support it deserves
https://uts.academia.edu/jonmarshall https://solvingenergyproblems.com/
Kristy Walters
Kristy Walters became heavily involved in the Australian Student Environment Network from 2005 to 2011 organising around climate change and food co-ops. From 2008 she was involved in creating Six Degrees, the coal and climate collective of Friends of the Earth Brisbane. In 2017 she started with Solar Citizens as the NSW Community Organiser where she worked on engaging and training our supporters to become more active in campaigns. Walters is also an executive director of the Community Power Agency, and the chairperson of the Haystacks Solar Garden Cooperative.
Adrian Ford
Dr Adrian Ford is an Honorary Fellow in the School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at The University of Melbourne and is affiliated with Melbourne Climate Futures. Adrian's research interests include community renewable energy groups and projects, and the political economy of sustainable energy transitions. He completed his PhD in sustainable energy transitions at the University of Melbourne in 2020.
Eleanor Buckley
Eleanor Buckley is a media and communications professional, specialising in environmental research. Previously she has worked in communications roles at the University of New South Wales in climate justice research and the University of Oxford in energy research. Currently, she works with Community Power Agency, working towards improving outcomes for communities in the shift to clean energy.
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