TENDER CONSIDERATION PLAN - COMMUNITY BATTERY (Referred from P&E 6 June 2023)

Frank Wilkie20:00

Thank you Councillor Stockwell, any other Councillors wish to speak? Jody wish to close? No, I think that's it, thank you. Okay, I'll put the motion made in favour. Thank you. That is unanimous. Thank you Alex you, guy. Appreciate it. Thanks, we now go back to the agenda tender consideration plan community battery. Thank you. And we have Annie Nolan. Welcome, good Annie.

Afternoon, Councillors. Okay, so what you have in front of you is the report about the tender consideration plan. And just as a bit of background, when Federal actually committed $200 million to implementing community batteries right across Australia. And the first tranche of that was $29 million for community batteries in specific locations. There were a number of locations identified right across Australia where this grant funding actually had to be spent. And Noosaville was one of those locations that were stipulated in the grant funding. So Council saw this grant funding as a significant to really pilot a community battery, which is very much an innovative and new piece of kit. There's not a lot of them around currently in Australia. And so we saw this as an opportunity to keep local solar that was generated on rooftop solars, particularly in Noosaville, keeping it local to be able to be utilised at night when the sun's not shining. So basically, a community battery will act as a solar sponge, really sort of collecting that solar that would potentially be exported back into it locally so that then it can actually be utilised when the sun's not shining and particularly in the peak times. So we saw this as a fantastic opportunity and this would also complement our net zero emissions target. That has been in the Environment Strategy of 2019 and also the climate change response plan as well. So this was a terrific opportunity but we that we really needed an expert partner because this is such new and innovative technology to actually put in the grant and then if we were successful to actually activate through this grant as well so we identified that Yarra Energy Foundation or noted as YEF in the report is the only community not-for-profit organisation that has actually implemented a in the battery sorry in front of the metre community battery and that one has been going for a year as of world environment day last week in North Fitzroy and that is a real true community battery that has got community benefit. So as a result of that we actually put in the application in partnership with Yarra Energy Foundation and Zero Emissions Noosa Inc and a couple of weeks ago we were notified that we were successful in obtaining five hundred thousand dollars for that grant to install. A community battery within Noosaville. So as part of that under council's normal procurement plans we would normally over two hundred thousand dollars be required to go out for tender however under the Local Government Regulation 2012, section 230 division 3 there is exceptions for medium-sized and large-sized contractual arrangements to actually put together what's called a tender consideration plan and for that to be happening it has actually consider the objectives of the plan, how the objectives are to be achieved, how the achievement of the objectives will be measured, alternative ways of actually achieving the objectives and why those alternative means, I.e. the standard ones, was not adopted and the proposed terms of contract for the goods and services and a risk analysis. Of the market for which these goods and services are to be obtained. So what's in front of you is a recommendation to Resolve to prepare a tender consideration largely in what's in the attachment one of that report for the procurement and supply and operation of a community battery under section 230 of the local government regulations and that we actually you delegate authority to the CEO to prepare and finalise and adopt the plan and approve the negotiations and entering into contracts within the CEOs financial delegation in order to achieve the objectives of the tender consideration plan this is very much what's in front of you report to undertake a procurement process in accordance with section 230 of the Local Government Act.