Articles Tagged with: Community Solar

In regional Australia, big infrastructure projects usually arrive from somewhere else. A corporation builds them, governments regulate them, and locals live with the outcome. What happened in Goulburn turned that pattern on its head.

For years, apartment dwellers have watched homeowners cash in on rooftop solar while their own roofs sat empty. Shared ownership, tricky wiring, and strata red tape often put solar in the “too hard” basket. Now, the NSW Government’s Solar for Apartment Residents (SoAR) Grant Program aims to change that.

You don’t need a PhD in energy policy to see the crunch coming. Australia’s plugging in everything — EVs, heat pumps, home batteries; full electrification is coming — while coal plants cough their last and politicians chase emissions targets like it’s a race for Olympic gold. On paper, we’re on track for 82% renewables by 2030. Out in the paddocks, where those turbines and panels actually land, it’s another story.

The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) has launched an ambitious $3.6 million initiative, "Solar for Apartments," that targets one of the more challenging sectors of the housing market in terms of renewable energy adoption—apartment complexes. This initiative represents a strategic collaboration between the Australian and ACT governments, marking a significant step towards sustainable urban living.

To power Australia without fossil fuels will mean using batteries to store power from solar and wind. We often think this means home batteries – or large grid-scale installations.