Sydney’s “100% Renewable By 2030” campaign could not have come at a more opportune time.
The city’s ageing gas networks and worn down electricity systems will have to go as Sydney solar power and wind power technologies try to meet the requirements for an upgraded power infrastructure. The right to increase solar quotes has, in fact been already given to energy retailers and distributors in the New South Wales (NSW) area in order for them to recoup their investments for the delivery of an energy system that is not only operable but secure and sustainable.
Hastening the Implementation of the Master Plan
This upgrading has caused the increase in costs of household and business electricity to meet the peak demand from 10am to 4pm, a period in which a majority of integrated technologies utilising solar power are also in operation at the same, or nearly the same, capacity. Decentralised generation of energy is able to reduce peak demand but also delay the upgrading procedures for infrastructure and has the potential of escalating network charges further for an entire community. This situation has hastened the implementation of a master renewable energy plan.
Australia’s Largest Ever Solar Panels
This plan focuses on technologies that are able to deliver the most successful outcome for Sydney at the lowest cost possible. For instance, solar quotes have been given for an estimated $4.3m project in the installation of solar panels on sites such as Sydney Park Pavilion, Paddington, Glebe Town Hall, Town Hall House, and a wide range of community centres, libraries, public facilities, and depots. Australia’s largest ever building-mounted solar panels will have a capacity of up to 1.24 megawatts of power generation, reducing the city’s annual level of carbon pollution by as much as 2,250 tonnes. Some 240 solar panels with the capability to create a 48 kilowatt-peak capacity will eventually find their way in the 18 sites that have already been installed with photovoltaic systems and/or solar hot water.
Other Cities and Countries Catch the Sydney Solar Power “100% Renewable by 2030” Fever
This new program has the potential of raising the city’s capacity to generate solar power by up to a 1.35 megawatt-peak from around 5,500 panels to be installed on the city’s building to provide these buildings with 12.5% of their own power requirements. What is remarkable, however, is that the cost of renewable energy technologies is decreasing as new innovations become more widely available, even as coal-fired energy cost increases. According to Allan Jones, the city’s Chief Development Officer, Sydney’s “100% Renewable by 2030” goal is not by any chance an unusual undertaking. He cited as an example the Danish capital of Copenhagen as one city that has vowed to reach the hundred per cent renewable status five years ahead of Sydney. Jones’ perspective mirrors that of the Renewables 100 Policy Institute’s, which has tracked various communities, cities, regions, and even countries that have set and begun executing their respective hundred per cent renewable programs. The renewable energy blueprint, which was previously exhibited publicly, outlines how Sydney solar power, wind, and biomass-derived energy can be utilised in cooling, heating, and electricity for consumer consumption by the year 2030.
