Greens to leverage Snowy Hydro to make rooftop solar PV available for seven million renters

The Greens have unveiled a unique plan to use the federal government owned Snowy Hydro and a newly created $10 billion fund to enable Australia’s seven million renters get access to rooftop solar PV and the opportunity to cut their bills.

The announcement, unveiled by Greens leader Adam Bandt at the Smart Energy Council conference in Sydney on Thursday, would allow renters to request an average-sized solar panel system, up to 8kW, to be installed at their rental properties.

Landlords would only be able to refuse on reasonable grounds, including restrictive body corporate rules, engineering challenges or local energy congestion constraints.

It is part of the Greens “Powering past coal and gas” policy that aims to fast-track Australia’s net zero target from 2050 to 2035, and to reach 100 per cent renewables by that data.

The Greens oppose new gas and coal projects, on the basis of climate science, and intend to bring their potential influence to bear in a future Labor minority government.

Household energy systems have become a major focus of policy unveilings in this election campaign, responding to the growth of consumer energy resources – including rooftop solar, battery storage, and electric vehicles.

These are expected to become the dominant part of Australia’s electricity grid in coming years – and rooftop solar is already the biggest single contributor – at least in capacity if not in output – and these assets are critical to the ability of households to manage costs.

Labor last weekend announced a $2.3 billion home battery scheme that it says will support the rollout of 1.1 million household batteries out to 2030. The Coalition says it opposes this. The Greens are the first to develop a policy that specifically addresses renters, long the forgotten part of the electricity consumer ecosystem.

“Labor has adopted part of the Greens’ home electrification policy of support for batteries but Labor’s policy does nothing for renters,” Bandt said.

“For two long renters have been overlooked when it comes to the management of solar. Renters need solar. There are seven million renters in Australia and they deserve to be able to cut their power bills and reduce their emissions, just like homeowners can.”

Bandt says the solar systems and installation for renters would be paid for through a new $10 billion fund established through Snowy Hydro.

The panels will be listed as an asset on Snowy Hydro’s balance sheet with a caveat placed on the title of the property. Landlords could elect to pay this amount off early if they choose, otherwise Snowy Hydro will be entitled to be repaid the amount owing when the property is sold or its ownership transferred.

Bandt told the SEC that a Labor minority government was the most likely outcome of the May 3, and noted that the last time a minority Labor government was in place, more than a decade ago, produced the Clean Energy Act which included the renewable energy target, the Climate Authority, the CEFC, and Arena.

“We still need to end the billions of dollars in subsidies that are going to fossil fuel corporations,” Bandt said. “We need a plan to shift our transport fleet of unreliable oil imports onto clean Australia made renewable electricity.

“We need to build the manufacturing export opportunities of the future in green steel and green ammonia, green hydrogen and green chemicals.

“We’re also facing international challenges too. Trump wants to turbo charge the climate crisis, empowering coal and gas and endangering us all in a time of such uncertainty, we need to work hard for them, to protect our future, reduce our costs and keep people safe.

“We can’t keep voting for the same two parties and expecting a different result. They’ve taken millions in donations from coal, oil and gas corporations upon their election campaigns to keep people safe. Massive expansion of cheap, reliable renewable energy.

“This election, we have a once in a generation chance to get strong climate action. The experts say there’ll be a minority government. The Greens are within rich of winning seats right across the country, and with more Greens in Parliament, we will keep Dutton out.”

more to follow

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