Short-sighted ruling stalls local energy generation

Short-sighted ruling stalls local energy generationIn light of Australia’s post-Paris obligations, the energy market regulator’s ruling against local energy generation has left many scratching their heads, says the Property Council’s executive director Jane Fitzgerald.Last week, the Australian Energy Market Commission knocked back a proposal, submitted by the Property Council, the City of Sydney and the Total Environment Centre, to allow businesses or councils to sell the power they generate to neighbouring businesses. Under current rules, an office tower, sporting oval or shopping centre that sends surplus power to nearby buildings is still required to pay full network charges. The proposed rule change would have enabled local generators to receive a credit from electricity networks because they only use a fraction of the poles and wires when supplying electricity to a neighbouring building.The AEMC’s chair John Pierce said the proposal would have “achieved little but higher prices for all consumers”.However, research from the University of Technology Sydney has found the change could save consumers $1.2 billion by 20 through local generation network credits and local electricity trading.City of Sydney lord mayor Clover Moore says the decision “means city residents will continue to pay for upgrades to an ageing and inefficient network that transports coal-fired power all the way from the Hunter Valley to Sydney.”Fitzgerald says the decision is a “strange, short-sighted outcome that took 15 months to deliver”.”We know more local power generation can improve energy efficiency, curb emissions and reduce network maintenance costs. This proposal would have been a win for industry, government, the community and the environment,” Fitzgerald says.”The property industry wants to play its part in building better cities, but the electricity rules in Australia have not kept up with the pace of change in the market. Fitzgerald says the Property Council will be working with the City of Sydney and Total Environment Centre to determine next steps.”The case for innovation remains compelling, and in a post-Paris environment in which the clock is ticking on climate change, the net zero imperative is not going to go away,” Fitzgerald concludes.