The New South Wales state Labor government is coming under increasing pressure to ban the connection of gas in new-build homes, to cut energy costs for consumers, reduce gas supply constraints, and catch up with the ACT and Victoria – and a growing number of local governments.
In a submission to the NSW Net Zero Commission consultation, renewable energy lobby group Solar Citizens says ensuring all new homes in the state are fully electric is one of the most effective ways to cut emissions.
The other, the group says, would be to introduce state-based incentives to drive the uptake of rooftop solar and battery storage by large commercial and industrial businesses.
Currently, solar and battery uptake in the state is subsidised only for households and small businesses – and only through the national SRES, including the Albanese government’s newly launched Cheaper Home Batteries program.
The NSW government’s Peak Demand Reduction Scheme no longer provides state-based rebates for home battery installation, but offers a certificate-based discount of a further to $1,500 to batteries that connect to a virtual power plant.
Solar Citizens is certainly not alone in calling on the Minns government to invest more in supporting consumers and industry to invest in renewable energy and cut their dependence on fossil fuels – starting with gas in homes.
Back in 2023, when Victoria first announced it would ban gas network connections in most new-build homes in the state, NSW premier Chris Minns made comments suggesting such a ban was not on his government’s agenda, any time soon.
But almost two years later, it is hoped that a renewed push to electrification – and the City of Sydney’s decision just last month to implement a ban on indoor gas appliances in new residential developments – might elicit a policy rethink.
“The Net Zero Commission’s Annual Report finds that NSW is not on track to meet its emission reduction targets, and that the built environment sector is the worst performer, it has almost doubled greenhouse emissions, while all other sectors have reduced their emissions since 2005,” says Solar Citizens national campaigner Charlie Rodrick.
“Our submission to the commission’s 2025 consultation points out that it’s the state’s approach to building and retrofitting homes and commercial buildings that could have a huge impact in both producing clean energy to support the grid and reducing on-site emissions.
“Solar Citizens proposes that the NSW government follow the lead of five councils, including City of Sydney and Parramatta, and make electrification mandatory in all new residential buildings – especially the 377,000 targeted new dwellings … to be built before 2030,” Rodrick says.
“This would mean preventing new gas connections being installed – including for hot water heating, cooking, heating and cooling – in all new residential and commercial developments, starting with apartments and strata as the first priority.”
On solar and batteries for C&I, Solar Citizens is calling for incentives to install PV systems sized at 100 kW and above and mid-scale behind-the-meter battery storage systems with a power capacity of 50kW and above.
“There is still huge untapped opportunity for rooftop solar generation in NSW,” Rodrick said on Wednesday, pointing to research from Nexa Advisory that identified 7 gigawatts (GW) of solar potential on commercial rooftops.
“It makes sense to invest in supporting commercial and industrial rooftop solar, firmed by battery storage because it’s in our urban areas that electricity demand is highest and where distributed transmission infrastructure already exists or can be easily installed or upgraded.
“Activating commercial and industrial rooftops is a key aspect of developing our cities as Urban Renewable Energy Zones – which we recommend the state government should investigate.
“The potential benefits of creating Urban Renewable Energy Zones include: emissions reduction; accelerated deployment of renewable energy generation and storage; local resilience to blackouts and natural disasters; and increased energy equity with cost of living relief for all households.”
