What is the Solar Cities Programme?
Alice Solar City is part of the Australian Government’s visionary Solar Cities initiative, helping to change the way cities think about and use energy. Through ‘real-world’ trials across Australia, governments, industry, businesses and residents are working together to create a new energy future for Australian communities.
Solar Cities consortia are working with industry, businesses and their local communities to rethink the way they produce and use energy. Each Solar City will deliver a unique trial of a combination of:
- energy efficiency measures;
- solar energy technologies
- energy pricing trials; and
- smart metering technologies.
Solar Cities is an innovative program that aims to show how technology, behaviour change and new approaches to electricity pricing can combine to provide a sustainable energy future in urban locations throughout Australia. It is a partnership approach that involves all levels of Government, the private sector and the local community.
The announced Solar Cities are Adelaide, Townsville, Blacktown, Alice Springs and Central
Victoria. The Australian Government has also committed to expanding the program to include
Perth in Western Australia and Coburg in Victoria.
What are the key expected outcomes of the Solar Cities Programme?
The trials will help:
- Consumers to better understand their energy use
- Electricity companies to understand the extent of cost savings in servicing peak electricity demand periods
- Industry to test new sustainable-energy options in a low-risk environment.
- Governments to develop future energy and greenhouse policy.
What are the aims of the Alice Solar City project?
Solar Cities is an innovative program which aims to demonstrate how solar power, energy efficiency technology and new approaches to electricity pricing can combine to provide a sustainable energy future in urban locations throughout Australia.
Alice Springs is a unique place receiving, on average, more than 9 hours of sunlight per day which makes it an ideal location to make use of solar power. The extreme conditions that we live with year round also mean that energy use is quite high. Alice Solar City aims to empower the community to make informed and intelligent use of energy and water. Community involvement is an important element of the project and the Alice Solar City would like to engage with as many members of the community as possible.
Our vision is to create a model of cooperation between government, business and the community to achieve:
- A community conscious of its unique environment and precious natural resources
- A community empowered to make informed and intelligent use of energy and water
- A national and international showcase for sustainable living and the use of solar energy
What are the key elements of Alice Solar City?
The Alice Solar City project involves three key elements.
Free energy advice and surveys (in home and at the Smart Living Centre);
Financial incentives for undertaking a wide range of energy efficiency improvements and solar energy installations;
Smart metering (which are interactive, visual displays of electricity consumption and generation if you have PV);
An elevated buy-back tariff for homeowners who choose to install a photovoltaic system and sell electricity back to the grid;
Rewards for program participants who make set percentage reduction in their electricity consumption compared to their previous electricity accounts;
Cost reflective tariffs (which provide for different prices for use during off-peak and peak times); and
A green electricity tariff which allows residents to specify electricity their consume to be generated from renewable energy sources.
Free energy advice and audits for small to medium size businesses;
Subsidised energy audits for larger businesses requiring specialist advice;
Financial incentives for undertaking a wide range of energy efficiency improvements and solar energy installations.
A number of large scale, key iconic solar energy installations have been proposed in and around Alice Springs, that aim to show case cutting edge, large scale solar technologies that that generate electricity and/or heat.
