April 2024 was a historic time in the Queensland Parliament.

Solar Citizens’ supporters like you have been campaigning alongside allied organisations for the Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan to include firm commitments on emissions reductions and strong renewable energy targets for more than a decade.

The Queensland Government this month passed landmark laws guaranteeing 80% renewable energy generation by 2035, and powerful emissions reductions targets of 75% reduction by 2035. 

This commitment locks in the work of Solar Citizens supporters over the last 10 years demanding cleaner, more affordable energy for all. Queensland has come so far in just the last few years, from a renewable energy laggard to world leaders in rooftop solar uptake – this legislation will ensure availability of even more cheap, clean energy from the sun for years to come.

By Carolin Wenzel and Justine Lawson, Wolli Creek residents

Solar Citizens and residents of Discovery Point at Wolli Creek have teamed up to launch Electrify Wolli Creek, a community-driven initiative dedicated to exploring energy efficiency and renewable energy options for apartment living.

During the launch event, held both at the Magdalene Chapel and outside Wolli Creek railway station, residents engaged with displays and representatives, showing keen interest in sustainable energy solutions such as rooftop solar installations, EV charging infrastructure, heat pump hot water systems, and induction cooking.

The following is a speech given by Solar Citizens CEO Heidi Lee Douglas to the Parliamentary Friends of Electric Vehicles and Future Fuels Transport on Tuesday 24th, February 2024. 

My name is Heidi  Lee Douglas and I’m the CEO of Solar Citizens, an independent, community-based organisation working to protect and grow renewable energy and clean transport in Australia.

I drove here from Sydney in one of Australia’s first new affordable electric vehicles - $38,000 starting price - and do you know how much that cost me? Just $15 from my hotel charger last night. 

Australians are excited about the potential for fuel cost savings from electric vehicles.

So you’ve got solar on your roof, but your energy bills have increased alarmingly. What are the best ways to reduce your energy bill? The most effective are:

1. Improve your home insulation (first the ceiling, then your windows)
2. Improve your home's solar access, i.e. more sun in winter or more shade in summer
3. Replace your gas hot water heater with an electric heat pump.
4. Add a solar battery

Assuming you have already done what you can on #1 and #2, this blog will explore the pros and cons of getting a solar battery or heat pump.

By Adam Fish and Heidi Norman
Original article published in The Conversation under Creative Commons licence

Australia’s plentiful solar and wind resources and proximity to Asia means it can become a renewable energy superpower. But as the renewable energy rollout continues, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people must benefit.

Over Summer I took an EV camping road trip through Alpine and South Coast NSW with my husband and two sons, to put our new BYD Atto through its paces.

By Heidi Lee Douglas, CEO of Solar Citizens

By Anna Bruce, Baran Yildiz, Dani Alexander and Mike Roberts
Original article published in The Conversation under Creative Commons licence

Australia is not rolling out clean energy projects nearly fast enough to reach the Australian government’s target of 82% renewable electricity by 2030. A huge build of solar and wind farms, transmission lines and big batteries is needed. But progress is challenged by the scale required, community resistance to new infrastructure and connecting all that new renewable electricity to the grid.

In the latest obstacle to expanding renewable energy capacity in the longer term, federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek knocked back a plan by the Victorian government to build a sea terminal to service offshore wind farms, saying it posed “clearly unacceptable” environmental risks.

The roadblocks facing large projects present an opportunity to ramp up the contribution of small-scale technologies in the energy transition. Recently, federal and state energy ministers agreed on the need for a national roadmap and a co-ordinated approach to integrating into the grid what they call “consumer energy resources” (CER), which include batteries, electric vehicles and rooftop solar.

Amber for Batteries – one user’s experience

One solar citizen who switched their energy provider to Amber for Batteries has generously shared their experience from April to September in the blog below.

We live in a duplex townhouse in North Epping in Sydney’s north-western suburbs, and have been a solar-powered house for several years, starting in 2011 with a system consisting of 1.5kW/6 modules and a 4kW SMA inverter. These were the days of $0.66/kWh FiTs (Feed-in Tariffs) – thank you NSW government and AGL! This system was upgraded to a 6kW/20 modules and a 5kW SolarEdge system in April 2017, with a Tesla PW2 battery being added 4 months later, and an EV (Renault ZOE) 8 months after that. Having been an EnergyLocals/Evergen customer for several years, we changed our electricity retailer to Amber for Batteries last April, following a recommendation by Solar Citizens. We were quite happy with the EnergyLocals/Evergen combination, but the Amber offer looked interesting, particularly the management of the battery and access to wholesale prices.

Solar Citizens supports a ‘Yes’ vote in the upcoming Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament Referendum.