COMMUNIQUE FROM A NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON REGIONAL AUSTRALIA'S ENERGY FUTURE
Nov 12, 2009
In Bendigo this week at the Energy Futures in Regional Australia conference, more than 200 delegates representing regional leaders from the Federal, local and state governments, community renewable energy alliances and business and industry associations considered regional Australia's energy future. After listening to speakers covering smart grids, distributed energy, resource efficiency, new technologies, agriculture and energy, solar, wind, low-emission technologies, community and business action, participants want to send a clear message to governments and regional leaders across the nation about what needs to happen to ensure sustainable energy futures.
Delegates concluded Australia has the technology to deliver renewable energy solutions and now needs key players across the nation's energy industries to co-operate more fully in the creation of sustainable energy futures. Participants identified a number of overlapping strategies to achieve this.
Importantly, more opportunity needs to be provided for communities to develop and learn about renewable energy. Communities need to be supported with start-up funding to get projects on the ground.
This needs to be done within the context of a changing and variable climate. Developing renewable energy is not just about ensuring efficient and reliable electricity supply. There is a powerful, over-arching reason as to why we need to get renewable energy solutions right.
When the Federal Government passes its Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme and investors know the price of carbon, this, combined with the incentives provided by the Renewable Energy Target, will open up significant investment opportunities for low-emission and renewable technologies in regional Australia.
The delegates recommend that governments:
1. Appoint Federal and State Commissioners for Renewable Energy to oversee intergovernmental co-ordination of rules to fast-track renewable energy deployment.
2. Reform the National Electricity Market to include environmental and sustainable development criteria alongside economic and efficiency criteria.
3. Encourage policies among distribution and retail companies that recognise energy supply as a community service.
4. Expand and extend the support for solar energy to medium-scale systems.
5. Accelerate awareness of energy consumption and provide price signals to consumers to better optimise supply and demand via the deployment of integrated smart meters, electrical appliances and telecommunications systems as well as education programs.
6. Develop models, such as the community-owned Hepburn Wind farm, that encourage entire towns and cities to switch to renewable sources of energy.
7. Recognise and encourage bio-waste and bio-energy systems, now used successfully in places such as Scandinavia, as key energy generators at regional level and on farms.
8. Increase national and state Renewable Energy Targets and modify the policies for achieving these targets to ensure they achieve their intended levels of renewable energy generation.
9. Support community organisations and sustainability groups to organise and drive bulk buys of solar hot water services and photovoltaic systems.
10. Support the formation of a peak body for renewable energy in rural and regional Australia. The peak body would advocate for and advise on policy to facilitate the deployment and adoption of renewable energy across rural and regional Australia.
Delegates re-affirmed the urgency to bring renewable energy generation to regional Australia. Consistent with Victorian Premier John Brumby's view expressed at the conference, this will allow rural and regional communities to boost employment opportunities while ensuring sustainable energy futures.
