Australia’s Climate Action Summit Greens NSW MP John Kaye June 2013, Glebe NSW Making NSW renewable : The next steps (politics)

The challenge – 2013 John Kaye Greens NSW MP 2

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The barriers  Climate deniers  Impact on probable next federal govt  Power of fossil fuel industry  Political and economic  Fear of change  Job insecurity  Politicians lacking imagination  No vision for a new future

The non-barriers  Technology  UNSW, BZE …: 100% renewable NSW possible  Existing technologies: wind, solar thermal, PV  Economics  Costs plummeting  Jobs: 73,800 in clean energy generation, vs 6,000 in coal and gas generation  Investment capital  $10 bn invest (+ 4,000 jobs + 22 Mt CO 2 ) in wind alone

Plummeting costs of renewables

Wind, sun, coal and jobs John Kaye Greens NSW MP 7 Jobs in NSW Coal-fired electricity (including mining) 6,000 Renewables & efficiency 73,800 Jobs in NSW Aluminum smelting 1,500 Rooftop solar 5,400

The zero-carbon technologies  Central  Wind  Concentrating solar thermal storage  Biomass  Distributed  Rooftop panels  Micro-hydro  Energy efficiency

100% Renewable is: Possible  Technology is ready  Investment is available  Time is right

100% Renewable is: Affordable  makes economic sense  renewables now cheaper than new coal-fired PS  Social costs of carbon are economically unsustainable  cost NSW: $2.4 bn to $6.9 bn  Health, infrastructure  create thousands of new jobs  up to 73,800 jobs in NSW

100% Renewable is: Essential  Unacceptable costs of fossil fuels:  environmental  social  economic  NSW  biggest CO 2 emitter in Aus  Carbon addiction  Dead end economy  Renewables  Export growth area

Breaking through  Campaign of solutions:  Possible, Affordable, Essential  Focus on jobs growth  Works with carbon price  Legislation:  Transforming NSW Energy Sector (Towards 100 percent Renewables) Bill 2013  A greenprint for a 100% renewable NSW  Showing how it can be done  Force debate on choice: CSG & coal or renewables  Councils as change agents  Towards 100% renewable communities

Part 1: Legislation  Objective: require NSW govt to take first steps to  replace state's coal-fired electricity generating fleet with renewable energy and energy efficiency  Steps:  Develop the equivalent of 500 MW coal by 2017 solar, wind and energy efficiency  Close 500 MW unit at Wallerawang power station 2017  Guarantee employment all workers at Wallerawang  Ban new fossil fuel power stations of 15 MW or more  Remove artificial barriers to distributed energy wind power  Establish timeline for closing all coal-fired power stations by 2030  Guarantee employment for all power station employees

Part 2: Councils as change agents  Councils best located to provide  leadership  coordination and  support (esp. finding funding sources)  Councils know more than any other agency about:  Community  Housing stock  Land  Possibilities of renewable energy  Build confidence in new technologies  Aggregating expertise and knowledge

Possible roles councils can take  Direct installation  E.g. Waverley – 31 kW of PV  Bulk purchase and retail  Warrnambool – savings  Establish Renewable Energy Parks  Expand capacity as residents buy-in  Works best with modular – e.g. solar PV  Establish/foster Renewable Energy Coop  Central NSW RE Coop  Hepburn Springs wind turbines

Community benefits  Jobs  Low income participation  Investment and economic activity  Lower electricity costs  Identity and community strengthening “ What’s great is that locals who are low income earners can even be part owners for as little as $100, and they have the same vote as everybody else - that’s inclusiveness and democracy at its best. I don’t have much money but I invested all I could in it.” Hepburn member

Next step:  Gather baseline data and identify opportunities:

Towards 100% Renewable NSW  Action needed at all levels of govt and community  Reduce emissions rapidly  Secure jobs and build export markets  Take pressure off power bills  Massive benefits  Early adopters are winners  Community buy-in  Create constituency for change  Just transition

2013 – the year of transition  Greens moving Transforming NSW Energy Sector (Towards 100 percent Renewables) Bill 2013  Create the debate  Demonstrate the possibility and affordability  Greens developing Councils as change agents  Piloting in a number of local government areas  On-the-ground demonstration of possibilities and benefits  We believe it is:  Time to stop talking and start transforming