City of Sydney calls for reformation of electricity regulations

The City of Sydney (City) has urged members of the NSW Parliament to reform outdated electricity regulations preventing the installation of low-carbon trigeneration electricity plants. Trigeneration has been found to be more than twice as energy efficient as the coal-fired power currently producing the majority of Sydney’s electricity.

The City’s Chief Development Officer Energy and Climate Change, Allan Jones, said trigeneration is “a proven way to produce electricity locally, and not only slash carbon emissions but reduce energy costs at the same time”. There are over 330 GW of electricity produced worldwide using trigeneration, he said, with trigeneration networks in the US, UK, Russia, China, Germany, India and Japan offering “a cheaper and cleaner alternative to coal-fired power”.

Jones explained, “While the current regulations allow installation of a trigeneration plant in a single building, they make it very difficult to install bigger, more efficient plants which could supply electricity to a cluster of neighbouring buildings because of the prohibitive cost of transporting electricity short distances.

“The way the regulations work now, the network charges to move electricity across the road can be as large as bringing electricity on the network all the way down from the Hunter Valley.”

At a hearing of the NSW Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee into trigeneration, Jones said the City’s views were echoed by major businesses groups that want to bring more efficient energy systems to Australia. The committee received 44 submissions, with groups including Property Council of Australia, Clean Energy Council, Energy Efficiency Council and Sydney Airport supporting calls for changes to the regulations to encourage the installation of trigeneration.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore said trigeneration is a reliable and efficient method of supplying the power, heating and cooling requirements that big cities like Sydney need to function throughout the year. With the right regulatory environment, she said, “trigeneration will be able to supply 70% of power needs in our local government area by 2030, with the other 30% coming from solar and wind”.

Furthermore, the development of renewable gases from waste to replace natural gas means trigeneration provides the opportunity to supply 100% of the city’s electricity, heating and cooling demands from renewable sources by 2030.

“The City of Sydney is already working on its own trigen network to service the Sydney Town Hall precinct, including Sydney Town Hall, Town Hall House and the Queen Victoria Building,” the Lord Mayor said. “This precinct alone has the potential to contribute 11% of the City’s 2030 greenhouse gas reduction targets.

“Action to create lower-carbon electricity is essential and we will continue to demonstrate leadership on this important issue by arguing a case with our state and federal governments to bring clean energy options to our cities.”

To read the City’s submission to the inquiry into cogeneration and trigeneration in NSW, click here.

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