Antinuclear

“Our savings won’t go back into the big bucket,” says principal Julie Holden. “They won’t be used for staffing and books.” She’s promising to fund environmental initiatives by students around the town instead, as well as more energy efficiency improvements for the buildings.

Modest though its goal sounds, Chewton Primary is one front in a revolution.

In a speech in mid-October, Michelle Groves, CEO of the Australian Energy Regulator, described the coming change in the electricity industry that way. “Revolutions can seem threatening at first,” she said, “but they also present opportunities.” Groves was discussing the rise of “prosumers” – consumers of electricity who are now also producers. More than 1 million households have installed solar panels in the past few years, she said, and that’s a good thing: along with smart appliances and batteries, this wave of solar generation is increasing both customer choice and the resilience of the electricity network.

Solar photovoltaic panels are booming for good reason. They’re a consumer item of malleable meaning, alluring for stubborn individualists and climate change activists alike.

But for a growing number of people, renewable energy promises something even more: an opportunity to rejuvenate communities and create local jobs. All around the country, volunteers are planning energy systems that will be owned by their community, covering a scale from single rooftops to entire towns.

“The buzz phrase is that solar power is democratising the energy market,” says Tosh Szatow, the founder of the People’s Solar, as well as a consultancy called Energy for the People. “But the democracy we’ve got isn’t serving our interests. This is something more – it’s energy owned by people, serving interests defined by those communities themselves.”

Around Castlemaine and districts, in particular, the solar citizens are rallying. ……….

The residents of Newstead, 12 kilometres south of Maldon, want something different. For four years, volunteers have been working on a plan to become completely powered by renewable energy.

The group began by offering energy audits, which were taken up by 8 out of every 10 residents. Then they began looking into creating a local micro-grid, fed by banks of solar panels.

“Our main interest is community building,” explains Geoff Park, from Renewable Newstead.

Park anticipates that the scheme would offer electricity to locals at a slight discount from current prices, while also generating cash for to spend elsewhere in the community. And unlike gas, they don’t need the government to pay. A small grant would help scope a plan, but otherwise, it would be a commercial proposition.

Two years ago, when Park contacted the Napthine government about the idea, he didn’t even get a reply. The group has had similar trouble dealing with the network distributor, Powercor.

Szatow is advising Renewable Newstead on its plan. He notes that if the money being poured into “Energy for the Regions” – $6800 a house – was spent on solar instead, it would cut an average household’s electricity bills close to zero for more than 20 years.

“We really are at a crossroads,” Szatow says. “Every dollar we spend in centralised gas and electricity infrastructure takes us down a road to rising energy prices, non-renewable fuels and extractive business models. The other road is locally owned and managed renewables, with stable or declining energy prices. That’s the one we want to walk down.”  http://www.smh.com.au/national/renewable-energy-power-to-the-people-20141103-11fymi.html#ixzz3I8SO471I