Policy

Federal Opposition's newly launched Climate Action Plan will put nearly $100m towards developing a Community Power Network and a series of "regional hubs,” as well as an annual competitive grants program.

The transition to 100 per cent renewables for Australia is inevitable, say the authors of a major new report. The only question is how quickly and how fairly it will be done – and that's where community energy comes in.

The much criticised NSW solar bonus scheme is due to end soon. It cost a lot less than feared - 50c/week to households - and laid the foundations for a clean energy industry.

City of Adelaide solar initiative will remove upfront costs and provide payment plans for city's low-income and rental households, in effort to extend rooftop PV uptake – and savings – beyond the traditional market.

How can public acceptance of utility projects be increased? Policymakers want to allow citizens to invest in such projects, but the focus is insufficient. Citizens want more than just financial benefits.

When a now defunct solar company installed non-genuine solar panels on nearly 200 homes in regional NSW and Qld, Greenbank – the aggregator of the solar credits for those panels – stepped in to right the wrong, despite having no hand in the blame. The question, now, is who will stop it from happening again?

State government acts to make it quicker and easier for Victorian households and small businesses wishing to install rooftop solar, with Bill that will reduce the wait for connection by up to 55 days.

Australians hate their energy utilities more than most other countries. That poses a big challenge for the traditional utilities trying to break into the behind-the-metre market inside homes and businesses.

An online petition calling on Australia’s federal and state governments to make rooftop solar mandatory for all new-build houses has attracted nearly 12,000 signatures in just one week.

Victorian Life Saving clubs can now apply for state government grants to install solar PV after the launch of a $500,000 funding program this week.

How equity crowd-funding reform – if done appropriately could open the floodgates to the community energy sector.

Blueprint for NSW town of Uralla says getting to majority renewables can be relatively easy, and save a lot of money. Getting to 100% renewables, however, will be harder. But it seems lots of towns want to try.

A City of Sydney-backed $1.2m Environmental Upgrade Agreement will allow owners of 1967 Reader's Digest building to fund energy efficiency upgrade that will slash its energy use by 60%.

City of Sydney, Property Council call on AEMC to change rules governing electricity supply to incentivise shared, local distributed energy generation.

Attempt by Abbott government to stop Clean Energy Finance Corporation co-financing rooftop solar is likely to make rooftop solar a lot more more expensive for those homes and businesses who have yet to install the technology, and who cannot afford to buy the systems outright.

South Australia government doubles funding available for City of Adelaide battery storage initiative, potentially injecting 600kWh of storage into CBD.