Locally produced energy key to reducing upgrade costs, says Moore

Locally produced energy is the key to reducing upgrade costs on Sydney’s “ageing and inefficient network that moves coal-fired electricity from the Hunter Valley to the middle of the city”, according to Sydney’s Lord Mayor Clover Moore.

“The smartest investment we can make is in generating electricity close to where it is used,” Moore said. “This reduces the need for costly upgrades to the ageing electricity network and massively improves energy efficiency - both things that would make power bills cheaper for households.”

Moore said the City of Sydney plans to boost the energy efficiency of its buildings and produce more local energy through solar, wind and trigeneration technology.

“Together, these initiatives will drive down costs, save the public money and reduce the impact we’re having on our environment,” Moore said. “But to make them a reality we need the government to get the regulation right.”

In a statement, the City of Sydney said the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) approved a spend of $17.4 billion on electricity infrastructure in NSW for the five years from 2009 - an 80% increase on the previous five-year period. This is expected to cause an 83% increase in average electricity; by 2014, 60% of the average electricity bill is expected to be made up of network charges.

“The federal government’s recent energy white paper estimates a quarter of electricity costs result from peak demand, primarily electric air conditioning, which hits the electricity network for just 40 hours a year during extreme temperatures,” the City of Sydney statement said. “However, much of the grid’s capacity to cater for times of peak demand is not used for the remainder of the year.”

The City of Sydney made a submission to the AER review of electricity network companies, in which it says the best way to reduce peak demand is to provide financial incentives to energy-saving measures and local energy production, which will supply buildings with low-carbon electricity, heating and cooling.

A University of Technology, Sydney study shows that the City’s proposed $440 million trigeneration network could save electricity consumers $1.5 billion in avoided spending on network upgrades and new power stations by 2030. The local trigeneration network would run on natural or renewable gases and supply buildings with low-carbon electricity, heating and cooling. It aims to provide 70% of the city’s electricity needs by 2030.

According to Allan Jones, City of Sydney Chief Development Officer for Energy and Climate Change, providing that reforms are properly implemented, they could provide a significant financial boost to local energy projects such as the City’s trigeneration network and local energy producers such as household and business solar installations.