Latest news with #ToscaLloyd
ABC News
9 hours ago
- Business
- ABC News
Hundreds of homes to convert to renewables
Rachel Mealey: Re-wiring Australian homes to run off renewable electricity and cut emissions is a big project, but in one New South Wales postcode, dozens of houses have already been switched over. A pilot program in northern Illawarra has so far seen 60 homes converted to run entirely on renewable energy, with the aim of every home in the region changing over. Experts say the grid can handle the added load, but it's not cheap to get started. Joanna Crothers reports. Joanna Crothers: Tosca Lloyd and her family have had their eyes on converting their Wollongong home to run off renewables for several years. Tosca Lloyd: I think the climate impacts of coal and gas is the primary motivator for us and our family. Joanna Crothers: Her family is one of the lucky few to benefit from the Electrify 2515 pilot program, which is aiming to convert 500 homes in the 2515 postcode to run entirely off renewable energy. 60 homes in the New South Wales Illawarra postcode have already been converted, with a further 440 signed up to the program. But those homeowners are looking at a fairly steep bill. Tosca Lloyd: So we got a really big solar system, quite a large battery, induction, ducted heating for our whole house and an electric heat pump. We also had a bunch of rewiring done. All of that cost around $40,000, but we only ended up being out of pocket around $32,000. Joanna Crothers: The Federal Government is subsidising the pilot as part of Australia's push to reach net zero by 2050. Almost $5.5 million has been given to the program so far by Australia's Renewable Energy Agency. Rewiring Australia founder and chief scientist Dr Saul Griffith says he wants to prove that it's possible to convert millions of homes off gas. Saul Griffith: So we know that 11 million Australian households have got to get to zero emissions by probably 2040. We thought we'd try to really accelerate what that looks like in one community. Joanna Crothers: Professor Tania Urmee works in Murdoch University's School of Engineering and Energy in WA. She agrees that the program can work without crippling power grids, but says getting everybody on board with such big changes will be the biggest challenge. Tania Urmee: It's not an easy thing. We need to look at social issues like energy equity issues. You are setting up whole new ideas into a real practice. The whole energy generation needs to start from home. If that social learning happens, then it is good. Joanna Crothers: The Illawarra region, with the city of Wollongong and Port Kembla, has become a hub for renewable development both domestically and in industry. Dr Griffith says he's hopeful the scheme will eventually become affordable for low-income households too. Saul Griffith: So we've incentivised the program with small subsidies. They're larger for the lower-income households. They're lower for the top-income households. Joanna Crothers: Australia's Renewable Energy Agency has confirmed it's also funding a home electrification pilot for 500 homes in South Australia. Rachel Mealey: Joanna Crothers there with additional reporting by Nicholas McLaren and Brooke Chandler.
ABC News
10 hours ago
- Business
- ABC News
Electrify 2515 celebrates renewable energy conversion of 60 Illawarra homes
Scores of households have been converted to run off renewable energy in a significant step towards the goal of electrifying an entire New South Wales postcode. Tosca Lloyd is one of the lucky few to benefit from the Electrify 2515 community pilot, which has so far converted 60 homes in the Illawarra postcode. She said saving money was just as important as addressing climate change. "We see switching to renewables and electrifying as one and the same as addressing the cost of living crisis and also the climate crisis," Ms Lloyd said. She was also motivated to get gas out of the house for health reasons because her young son suffers from a respiratory illness. Ms Lloyd installed a "really big" solar system, a large battery, converted to a ducted heating system and installed an electric heat pump. "All of that cost around $40,000, but we only ended up being out of pocket by around $32,000. Another 440 households have signed up for the program. Rewiring Australia founder Saul Griffith said the scheme was about starting small and then going big. "So we know that 11 million Australian households have to get to zero emissions by probably 2040," he said. "We thought we would really try to accelerate what that looks like in one community — that was the origins of 2515. "We've had a great community response … 500 homes out of 4,000. "That's about 15 per cent have signed up to participate." The scheme has built-in equity measures — the more you earn, the lower the subsidy. "A really kind of fabulous thing we found out about our community is a lot of the higher net-worth families are doing it for climate reasons," Dr Griffith said. The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has funded the program to the tune of $5.4 million so far. Endeavour Energy manages the network and its future-energy strategy manager James Hazelton said he was confident the grid could handle the added load and that customers would not face higher energy costs. "But we also want to make it clear that through the journey to electrification, while customers are going to save money by having less fuel use and gas use, they are not going to face higher network charges," he said. The network operator will closely monitor the program to determine whether improvements are required for converted households. "We're using this as a case study to understand what's the right balance of visibility and network upgrades that might need to take place," Dr Hazelton said. The Illawarra region, which includes the city of Wollongong and Port Kembla has become a hub for renewable development. It remains to be seen whether a proposed offshore wind farm eventuates 20 kilometres off the coast, but in May the NSW government announced that the region had become the state's first "urban renewable energy zone". Energy Minister Penny Sharpe said that meant preparations were underway for more green manufacturing opportunities, research, renewable energy storage facilities and trial of new grid technologies to improve solar uptake. In January, federal Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen encouraged community energy projects similar to Electrify 2515 to apply for funding. ARENA has confirmed it is also funding about half of a $13.8m home electrification pilot for 500 homes in South Australia. "The primary project objective is to demonstrate the customer and sector benefits of demand flexibility and smart homes to help accelerate their deployment at scale," an ARENA spokesperson said.
