8 December, 2017
NSW Government turns to solar energy to cut bills
The Nature Conservation Council welcomes today’s purchase of solar energy by the NSW Government, but is calling on the government to do more.
“It is smart to get more energy from solar to cut power bills, save public funds and reduce our pollution,” said NCC Energy Analyst Brad Smith.
The NSW Government is expected to announce today it will buy 25 MW of solar energy from Neoen Australia, which is developing a solar farm in the state’s Central West.
“The NSW Government joins 18% of NSW households and companies like Telstra, SunMetals and TipTop who already use solar to cut their bills.
“If you put this 25 MW in perspective with the 5400 MW that the Victorian government is underpinning, it’s clear that much more is needed to lower wholesale prices and create a clean energy jobs boom in NSW.
“Unfortunately, the NSW Government have gone a long way backwards on clean energy since Premier Berejiklian took power.
“Twelve months ago, the government had a plan for installing 540 MW of clean energy, now we see just 25 MW, so today’s announcement is less then 5% of what was floated last year. It is very disappointing it’s not more.
“There’s still absolutely no certainty for the solar and wind industry in NSW post-2020, so we need to see much more action from the NSW Government.
"To meet the climate goals agreed in Paris, NSW needs to build 1500 MW of solar and wind, backed up by 600 MW of storage each year, a move that would create 22,000 jobs across NSW.”
The Nature Conservation Council’s is calling on the Berejiklian government to transition NSW to a modern, clean energy system by:
- Setting enforceable targets to source 50% of NSW’s electricity from renewables by 2025 and 100% by 2030;
- Developing a plan for a quick and orderly phase-out of coal-fired power stations that is fair to power-station workers;
- Creating incentives for the development of storage technologies, including batteries and pumped hydro.
Download Repowering the Regions Report: A clean-energy road map for NSW: https://www.nature.org.au/media/287133/repowering-our-regions-ncc-2017.pdf
[1] http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/nsw-government-makes-first-foray-into-largescale-renewable-power-purchasing-20171206-h00ahw.html
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Climate and energyNSW Parliament
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