Embarking on a green revolution at a community level

Major infrastructure projects will make a significant contribution to expanding Australia’s commitment to clean and green energy at a community level under the vision of not-for-profit organisation Embark.

The brainchild of Simon Holmes à Court and Mary Dougherty, Embark is part of the successful Lend Lease consortium that bid to redevelop the Sydney International Convention, Exhibition and Entertainment Precinct (SICEEP) in Darling Harbour. Holmes à Court is the former chair (and a current director) of Hepburn Wind - Australia’s first community wind farm.

The $2.5 billion Darling Harbour makeover includes a plan for a 400 kW community-based solar farm on the roofs of the exhibition centre and the entertainment complex, the intention being to meet the base power requirements of these two buildings.

Embark Executive Director Andy Cavanagh-Downs says his organisation’s proposal won’t just benefit SICEEP but other significant developments, large and small.

“A community group puts forward a proposal to an energy consumer to build a solar farm at a predetermined site,” he began.

“Once that is accepted, the community group sets up a company with a board that manages the project. The company raises capital to totally fund the project from the local community. That capital is then used to procure and install the solar equipment at the site. The output of the solar installation is sold to the energy consumer over a 25-year period. Local investors get a return on capital of 5% per annum.”

Andy Cavanagh-Downs.

Cavanagh-Downs outlined the benefits to the local community, the business world and the environment: local residents are able to come together to participate in a worthwhile cause, while the host of the project gets to purchase more renewable energy and engage directly with the local community, thus becoming a responsible corporate citizen.

He added that the community board gets to choose “a good cause for the year”, which could be clean energy related or linked to community needs. Investors may receive their dividend and capital return for that year, accept one and donate the other to the good cause, or donate both their dividend and their capital return.

The biggest challenge is finding suitable project hosts that will commit for a quarter of a century. The operator of Sydney’s exhibition centre and entertainment complex is on track to become the first, and Cavanagh-Downs anticipates that “more and more businesses will opt in as the push for greater energy alternatives and local energy generation develops over the next decade and beyond”.

Embark is also working on community wind projects, including one involving New England Wind around Armidale in northern NSW.

Cavanagh-Downs will be a keynote speaker at the All-Energy Australia exhibition in Melbourne from 9-10 October. With more than 100 local and international speakers and in excess of 250 exhibitors, the annual event attracts up to 5000 delegates from around the world.