City of Sydney encourages rooftop solar to avoid costly grid upgrades

 Source: RenewEconomy

The City of Sydney, Australia, is injecting funds into its electricity grid supplier, Ausgrid, to encourage the uptake of more rooftop solar in the city council area. Sydney will lift the money available to subsidise rooftop solar and other initiatives by 50 per cent. Ausgrid claims the costs of more solar will be vastly outweighed by avoiding expensive grid upgrades.

The grant program is available for rooftop solar installations, as well as LED lighting, variable heat pumps and smart building control systems. With many of the buildings being occupied during the day and not at night, most of the solar energy will be used and will help delay peak demand times.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore said the initiative would help the City of Sydney reach its targets to reduce emissions by 70 per cent and source half of the electricity supply in our area from renewables. “We’re covering as many of our own buildings with solar PV as we can, but we can’t control the buildings we don’t own. Initiatives like this encourage building owners across the city to invest in renewables and energy efficiency measures.”

The project could also realise a solution that would possibly increase the number of solar installations on apartment buildings and leased commercial properties. There are systems available that enable the sharing of solar energy with tenants. See: Queensland develops a simple energy efficiency investment program for commercial buildings and their tenants.

Further reading: City of Sydney buys into Ausgrid network’s push for more solar. RenewEconomy, March 8, 2018.