The City of Sydney has officially made the switch to 100 per cent renewable electricity, with its power supplies now flowing from wind and solar projects from across regional New South Wales. The council will now source the equivalent of all of its electricity consumption from renewable sources, including energy used throughout its operations at its buildings, depots, street lights, sporting facilities, as well as the iconic Sydney Town Hall. Its milestone came on the same day as the City of Adelaide.
“We are in the middle of a climate emergency. If we are to reduce emissions and grow the green power sector, all levels of government must urgently transition to renewable energy,” Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore said.
The City of Sydney will also source power from the 120MW Bomen Solar Farm located just outside Wagga Wagga, and the 270MW Sapphire Wind Farm located in NSW’s New England region.
Its the latest step in a range of pro-active measures taken by the City of Sydney council to reduce its contributions to climate change. The council became the first government in Australia to be certified as carbon neutral in 2011 and set itself a target of reducing its emissions footprint by 70 per cent by 2030. The council also made a formal declaration of a climate change emergency in June last year.
The deal is expected to reduce the council’s emissions footprint by around 20,000 tonnes per year, as well as saving the council around $500,000 annually over the next ten years on its energy costs. It will also likely see the council achieve its emissions reduction goal as early as 2024.
The City of Sydney was assisted in securing the arrangement by Flow Power, which hopes Sydney can serve as an example for other councils and local government authorities for how emissions reductions and cost savings can be achieved by embracing renewable energy.
Source: Renew Economy
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