Update October 2018:
Please note that this blog post is outdated and that you can find a new version for local governments here.

We have been tracking ambitious sustainability commitments made by local governments since we developed the Renewable Energy Master Plan for Lismore City Council in 2014. In May 2017, we had enough material to publish our first blog post on the energy and carbon commitments of states, territories and local governments. Over the course of just one year, many new commitments have been made which reflect the increased expectation in the community that governments take action on climate change and move to a clean energy future.

With all these new commitments we thought it was time to publish the updates in a blog post. Below are three tables that showcase the commitments of states and territories, followed by capital cities, and local governments.

States’ and territories’ commitments

States and territories are committing to both renewable energy as well as carbon reduction targets.

Capital cities’ commitments

Australian capital cities have mostly committed to carbon reduction goals, with many of them targeting or having already achieved carbon neutral/net zero emissions status.

Local governments’ and LGAs’ commitments

This table showcases ambitious carbon and energy commitments by local governments and their communities. While there are many more councils with carbon reduction and renewable energy commitments, this table focuses on the ones that have committed to going all the way – to 100% renewable energy, or zero net emissions.

To meet ambitious renewable energy commitments, councils have two options. They can either build mid-scale plants to meet their operational energy needs, or they can go to market to purchase offsite renewables. The following two sections showcase a few examples for each option.

Local governments with mid-scale developments

In this section, we want to capture where local governments look at mid-scale (also customer-scale) developments. These are renewable energy installations that typically range from 0.5MW to 15MW in size. The energy output from these plants is meant to cover all or part of the operational energy needs of a council but could be oversized to also cover the power needs of the community.

In July 2017, the Sunshine Coast Council became the first local government in Australia to offset its entire electricity consumption from its Valdora solar farm. The council estimates that over the 30 years lifetime of the project, it will save $22m compared to grid electricity costs.

2017 saw the start of mid-scale developments by councils, but this market has big potential going forward. Electricity prices are volatile, while the price for renewables has fallen sharply, and the price for LGCs (Large-Scale Generation Certificates) remains high. Several councils are currently developing or considering implementing a mid-scale plant before 2020 to make sure they can sell LGCs into the market.

Local governments purchasing renewable energy

We are introducing a new category in this blog post, which is the purchasing of renewable energy from offsite projects. There are many ways how renewable energy can be procured, for example by purchasing GreenPower from a provider, purchasing LGCs in the spot market, or by entering into a corporate Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). In this section, we will focus on PPAs. Renewable energy purchasing via PPAs can be a cost-effective way to deliver on commitments to reduce carbon emissions, achieve zero net emissions, or meet renewable energy targets.

In 2016/17, it was mostly corporations like Telstra or Sun Metals that entered into Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with project developers. However, recently, the Melbourne Renewable Energy Project marked the first time in Australia that a group of local governments (City of Melbourne, Moreland City Council, City of Yarra, City of Port Phillip), universities and corporations collectively purchased renewable energy from a newly built wind farm.

The recent RFP by the Southern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (SSROC) is another example of where a buying group has gone out to market to procure offsite renewables. One of the prerequisites for a successful tendering process was to proceed if the achieved PPA price was cheaper than the grid.

Feel free to use an excerpt of this blog on your own site, newsletter, blog, etc. Just send us a copy or link and include the following text at the end of the excerpt: “This content is reprinted from 100% Renewables Pty Ltd’s blog. You can also contact us for a copy of the commitment graphics – they are available as standalone JPGs for each government level.