A new campaign urging the government to invest in 'Local Energy Hubs' has kicked off today voiced by three regional Australian farmers' experience with the shift to renewable energy - including Narrabri farmer and Managing Director of Geni.Energy, Sally Hunter.
RE-Alliance has today released a film demonstrating the need for Local Energy Hubs: local outreach centres in energy shift regions staffed by trusted local experts, who can answer the questions being asked by their local communities. Sally Hunter shares the story of Geni-Energy to illustrate the need, alongside Wellington merino wool farmer Tony Inder and Singleton farmer Sophie Nichols.
RE-Alliance, Community Power Agency and Yes2Renewables have joined forces to call on the Federal Government to fund Local Energy Hubs for regional communities in the upcoming Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook.
Local Energy Hubs would:
Provide easy access to facts in local communities by hiring trusted and experienced local experts, across subjects such as renewable energy developments, transmission projects, home electrification and battery storage, electric vehicles and more, tailored to the region
Serve as outreach centres, providing services to support communities in understanding and participating in the shift to renewable energy
Be a crucial touchpoint for developers, helping to foster trust in communities for their projects through quality communication and engagement.
Address barriers to the electrification of households, small businesses and farm businesses such as lack of time or quality advice
Tackle complex challenges like ensuring communities know exactly how to have input into large-scale projects proposed for their regions.
Narrabri farmer Sally Hunter said Geni.Energy was founded in 2020 to demystify renewables for locals and help lower their energy costs.
"It's a very complicated space. You can easily get caught up in the technical issues and the market issues and also in the regulatory issues. Which is why Geni.Energy was created - which is the template for Local Energy Hubs across Australia," she said.
Sally said she was excited to see a future where Local Energy Hubs could support regional communities across the country, like Geni.Energy has in Narrabri.
"I think the Local Energy Hubs initiative is really important and I think it's a government responsibility. Fill a shop front in a local town. All of our towns have empty shops in the main street. Be a friendly face that people can come and ask their questions - make it practical for people - and help to break down some of the barriers that there are to renewables," Ms Hunter said.
RE-Alliance National Director Andrew Bray said: "Australians support our move to renewable energy, but our understanding of how far we've come, where we're heading and what needs to happen to get to the end point is almost non-existent."
"From hosting a large-scale solar farm on existing grazing land, to working out how to install the best solar and battery system for on-farm use, to filling an empty shop front to build local knowledge around renewables - all three stories in this film show how Local Energy Hubs could have made each journey easier," Mr Bray said.
"We need governments to proactively support and resource communities to understand, participate in and benefit from the energy transformation - and we think Local Energy Hubs could be a big part of the solution," he said.
