Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says residents may save up to $600 on their annual energy bills under a solar power initiative being rolled out for apartment buildings in New South Wales.
In a pre-federal election announcement today, the federal government has allocated $25 million to help eligible owners’ corporations and strata managers install shared rooftop solar systems on apartments.
“There are estimates that this could save residents up to $600 a year on their power bills, so good for residents, cost of living, good for reducing our emissions, good for the environment,” Albanese said at a press conference in his local electorate of Grayndler.
“A win-win situation rolled out by the Commonwealth and the state government.”
Currently, one in five homes in NSW are apartments but only 3.5 per cent of those have solar panels.
Energy and Climate Minister Chris Bowen said the funding will allow the transition for apartments to be quicker and easier so they join the four million households using rooftop solar.
“We now have 46 per cent of our electricity across the country being produced by renewables, 33 when we came to office,” he said, also at the press conference.
“That’s good progress over the last three years, we’re more than halfway to 82 per cent, but all this is on the ballot paper in the not-too-distant future when the prime minister decides all this.”
The $25 million Solar for Apartment Residents initiative will cover 50 per cent of the cost of installation with up to $150,000 on the table for each project.
Applications are now open for owners’ corporations or strata managers of apartments or multi-unit dwellings with three to 55 units that have not had a solar system installed in the last 10 years until December 1 or until funding is exhausted.
Albanese also used his announcement today to criticise Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s $331 billion nuclear energy plan.
“Peter Dutton’s so-called plan is not one that is good for energy. It’s not one that’s good for households, not one that’s good for the environment,” he said.
Dutton wants to build seven nuclear sites across New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.
The opposition says its plan is 44 per cent cheaper than Albanese’s, but that figure is based on modelling for about 45 per cent less energy than renewables by 2050.
