Page183 - Week 01 - Thursday, 3 December 2020
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properties. These systems will generate over 340,000 kilowatt hours of electricity each year, and the tenants will see reduced energy bills as a result. This will be a model for how multi-unit residences in future can participate in the solar revolution.
In April 2020 we put forward a variation to the Territory Plan with interim effects removing the mandatory requirement for new estate developments to have natural gas connections. We also released the sustainable energy policy 2020-25 discussion paper for public consultation, seeking views on issues such as how we plan for the transition out of natural gas use. In this next term of the Legislative Assembly we will build on these developments with clear steps to accelerate this transition.
We supported ACT residents to transition to electric vehicles in 2019-20 through the stamp duty exemption and a 20 per cent registration discount for zero emissions vehicles, amending planning rules to make it easy to install public electric vehicle charging, and opening our transit lanes to electric vehicles. We entered into a partnership with ActewAGL and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, or ARENA, to pilot good connected electric vehicle batteries. This world-leading project will test batteries’ potential to support the grid during peak demand and reduce ownership costs for drivers and fleet operators.
We continued to deliver programs that support businesses, households, schools and the community to achieve greenhouse gas emission reductions, alongside other benefits. These included our Actsmart programs for businesses, schools and households and events, and our community zero emissions grants program. We continued to administer the Renewable Energy Innovation Fund, or REIF, and other programs to make the ACT an internationally recognised centre for renewable energy, innovation and investment.
We continued the important work of transition in the ACT to zero emissions vehicles and we have continued to engage in research partnerships to ensure that our policies are informed by the most up-to-date information and experience. We extended our partnership with the New South Wales government to deliver comprehensive, up-to-date climate projections for the ACT. These projections will help us prepare for climate risks. We also continued to jointly fund research and development under the ANU’s battery storage and grid integration program.
The ACT government is leading by example through its zero emissions government framework. The framework commits the government to achieving zero emissions in its own operations by 2040, five years earlier than the community as a whole. In 2019-20 government emissions were 40 per cent lower than in 2018-19 due to the achievement of 100 per cent renewable electricity. ACT government agencies collectively beat their emissions reduction target for 2019-20.
In 2019-20 we ran several projects to bring down ACT government emissions, including developing options for the new Canberra Hospital extension to be all electric, to take advantage of our 100 per cent renewable electricity supply. In September 2020 the government announced that the facility will be all electric. This is a first for a major medical facility in a cold climate.
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