2021-06-16 Special Meeting Agenda

SPECIAL MEETING AGENDA                                                                   16 JUNE 2021


Submission Topic   Detail
                   3.2 Utilise business support tools to work with industry, business associations and
                   government agencies to facilitate emissions reduction and environmental sustainability
                   for local businesses Our estimates are that business exports $27M per year in grid
                   electricity costs. If a significant proportion of these costs were avoided through energy
                   efficiency and renewable energy, these funds could then be reinvested in the business.
                   Such investment would also lead to growth in the environmental industries sector as
                   prioritised in the Local Economic Plan. ZEN has developed considerable research data
                   with respect to the economic benefits to be derived by a business investing in energy
                   efficiency and renewable energy. This data is derived from actual case studies in the
                   Noosaville industrial estate and beyond

                   In many cases overall payback period is little more than 3 years and businesses can
                   then continue to reap the rewards of their initial investment. If Noosa Council is serious
                   about emission reduction and economic development, it must work with businesses to
                   keep this revenue in the shire.

                   However, we also know that there are real barriers for small business in accessing
                   these benefits. To overcome these barriers, we are proposing the creation of a
                   Business Energy Transition Officer, either employed directly by Council or funding to
                   ZEN to implement this proposal, based on an approved Business Plan.

                   This position would work closely with local business (and possibly strata) to assist with
                   assessment of current energy usage, opportunities for energy efficiency, costs and
                   benefits of renewable energy such as rooftop solar, and financing options. For small
                   business, investigation of this nature invariably goes in the too hard basket due to lack
                   of time to devote to researching and implementing solar, including accessing/assessing
                   credible information, (including regulation); challenges of installing solar in multi-
                   metered businesses; difficulty in negotiating through approvals process (with landlord,
                   body corporate, board, management). Having a Business Energy Transition Officer is
                   a real and practical way in which Council could work with its small business sector to
                   deliver real economic and environmental benefits.

                   A similar award-winning initiative was implemented by Waverley Council to work with
                   strata apartments. Round one of the free program had helped 10 residential strata
                   buildings reduce their annual carbon emissions by 651 tonnes as well as reduce
                   running costs in each building by an average of $13,000 each year. We are confident
                   similar benefits could be available to Noosa businesses through the employment of a
                   Business Energy Transition Officer.

                   3. Pre-feasibility Study into Costs and Benefits of Community Batteries

                   We propose that Noosa Council and ZEN partner in a pre-feasibility study on the costs
                   and benefits of one or more community batteries within the shire. There are several
                   trials and pilots now in operation across Australia, and it is important that our
                   businesses and households not be locked out from the economic and environmental
                   benefits of renewable energy as emerging grid stability problems lead to unacceptable
                   policy proposals.

                   It is now being recognised across Australia that the extraordinary growth of rooftop
                   solar is leading to emerging stability problems for a distribution network designed for
                   one-way, not two-way electricity flows. ZEN is already aware of Noosa businesses who
                   are unable to export solar due to distribution system inadequacies. This problem will
                   grow, both for business and households, with various response strategies being raised,
                   such as the recent proposal for an export charge (‘solar tax’).

                   However, it is clearly important not to disincentivise investment in renewable energy,
                   and an important strategy emerging is to grow capacity for energy storage, to be used
                   at times of peak demand not able to be met by wind or solar. While many will have
                   heard of the South Australian ‘big battery’, a middle way solution of community batteries
                   is now emerging, with several initiatives now in place and operational.

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