2015-04-07 Item 2 - Attachment 1 - Pre feasibility Study of Electric Bus Routes

Table 16 Electric Bus Trial Risk Matrix


                                                                                                   Almost
    Descriptors        Rare            Unlikely           Moderate              Likely
                                                                                                   Certain



Catastrophic



                                                                               New               Battery
       Major
                                                                            Technology         Performance


                                                                            Operational
     Moderate
                                                                              Risks


                                    Bus Capacity
       Minor
                                        Risk

                                    Not Realising
                                      Positive
    Insignificant
                                        GHG
                                      Impacts

7.6        Potential funding sources
In recent years, the scale of available grants and funding to support initiatives such as the
Noosa electric vehicle trial has been scaled back considerably. Entities which may have
previously provided grants or funding such as Australian Renewable Energy Agency
(ARENA) or the Commonwealth Department of Industry are responding to increased
budgetary pressures and a reduced emphasis on carbon mitigation policy in recent years.
Although more general in nature, the following recently announced grant may be available
for the trial and is worth exploring:

National Stronger Regions Fund (NSRF)

The NSRF offers $1 B over the next five (5) years to support investment in priority economic
and infrastructure areas. The fund is targeted at local government and incorporated not-for-
profit organisations. The NSRF is the successor to the Regional Development Australia Fund
(RDAF), the comparable nature of the two programs means it may be rolled out as follows:
     RDAF provided $438.5M averaging just over $200M per year, and the new NSRF looks to
     continue this with $1B over 5 years
     Under NSRF, the grants will be between $20,000 and $10M. Under RDAF, the smallest
     grant was $69,870 and the largest grant was $15M with the overall average being just
     over $2.5M1

Noosa Council Public Transport Levy
The option of a Public Transport levy to fund the trial is also open to Council. However, as
this is for provision of new technology on an existing bus route, it may be difficult to gain

1
 GrantReady
http://community.grantready.com.au/Find_Grants/Search/index.aspx?itemDetails=11189&cId=&itemDetailsSubTopi
c=228




                                  GHD | Feasibility Study of Electric Bus Routes in Noosa - Planning Report | 55