The Victorian SEC is relaunched as Renew presents at All-Energy Expo in Melbourne
In late October Renew presented at the annual All-Energy conference and expo in Melbourne put on by the Clean Energy Council which attracted more than 10,000+ renewable energy industry professionals from across the country and overseas – the largest attendance on record.
Talking on a panel organised by the Energy Efficiency Council on Retrofitting for Net Zero: Policies for upgrading Australia’s buildings and appliances for net zero emissions, Renew’s sustainability researcher Dr Rachel Goldlust presented the Getting Off Gas Toolkit to an engaged audience. Rachel highlighted opportunities offered by Renew to encourage households to move towards electrification as the panel conversation ranged across commercial retrofits to policy-related issues facing the growing push towards transitioning more Australian homes to efficient electric appliances.
Speaking with the EEC’s Head of Policy, Jeremy Sung, the CEO of Green Energy Trading Luke Konynenburg and the Manager of Residential Energy Efficiency at DEECA, Alberto Garza Barragan, there was a clear interest from the expo participants in both the policy work currently underway across the NGO and household energy sector to highlight and remove barriers currently facing households wanting to transition, and to the work currently being undertaken by organisations like Renew who are continuing to speak to the benefits of removing gas from Australian homes.
Speaking at the launch of the EEC’s Careers for Net Zero event later in the week, the Victorian Premier, Jacinta Allan officially re-launched the State Electricity Commission (SEC) in a move that signals a clear intention by the Victorian Government to invest in a renewable energy transition and encourage and assist households to electrify.
As many Renew readers would be aware, the State Electricity Commission was a publicly owned utility that provided the state’s power generation, transmission, distribution and supply and was privatised in the 1990s. Last year, former Premier Dan Andrews announced the resurrection of the SEC as part of a broader 12-year strategy that includes investment in renewable energy for the grid, supporting and encouraging the transition to all-electric households, and growing the renewable energy sector and workforce.
According to the State Government Press release, the reformed SEC will invest an initial $1 billion towards building 4.5 gigawatts of new power through renewable energy and storage projects – enough to power around 1.5 million homes.
The SEC will also be taking over the Labor Government’s Victorian Renewable Energy Target projects by 2025 – which amount to 1.2 gigawatts of renewable energy generation in addition to the 4.5 gigawatts. As the Interim CEO of the State Electricity Commission Chris Miller has said,
“More than 100 years after it was first established, we’ve brought back the SEC to free Victoria from its reliance on fossil fuels and unlock the opportunities of our renewable energy transition.”
Renew continues to advocate for the needs of households, particularly those who may not have the capacity or understanding of the benefits of getting off gas, and make sure that the coming transition to all-electric is equitable and inclusive.
To start your journey towards making your home more energy efficient head to gettingoffgastoolkit.com
