The Reserve Bank of Australia has confirmed that it will purchase GreenPower matching 20 per cent of its electricity consumption under its contract with Delta Electricity, after saying it would consider sourcing all of its power from renewable sources.
The RBA revealed that it would source just a portion of its electricity needs from GreenPower accredited sources in answers to Questions on Notice posed by Australian Greens leader Adam Bandt, when the Bank appeared before the Standing Committee on Economics Hearing in February.
“The RBA’s supply contract with Delta Electricity includes GreenPower for 20 per cent of the electricity consumed, with the option to increase the share of green power over time,” the RBA said in response to Bandt’s questions.
“GreenPower is a commercially branded product that coordinates the sale of accredited renewable energy supplies. It is purchased from the retailer as an incremental cost to the base electricity price.”
The RBA attracted scrutiny over its electricity supply contract after it was revealed that it had accepted a tender from Delta Electricity in a deal worth $10.9 million, which owns and operates the Vales Point coal fired power station, and currently operates none of its own renewable energy projects.
However, Delta Electricity is developing a 55MW solar farm at the site of the Vales Point power station. The RBA also confirmed that it had plans to install rooftop solar systems across a number of its locations, including a 1MW system to be installed at its note printing facility at Craigieburn in Victoria.
The RBA confirmed that there was no specific link between Delta Electricity’s generator portfolio and the electricity supplied to the premises of the central bank.
“The electricity purchased by the RBA is sourced from the national grid, which is supplied by multiple non-renewable and renewable power generation providers, including Sunset Power. There is no direct link between the electricity consumed by the RBA and Sunset Power’s power generation activities,” the RBA said.
Delta Electricity is owned by Trevor St Baker, a long-time Liberal and National Party donor, but responding to the questions taken on notice, the RBA said that the political affiliations of Delta Electricity had not weighed into its decision to source power from Delta Electricity.
The central bank also said that it had primarily selected Delta Electricity on the basis of the cost of the electricity supplies and that the purchase of GreenPower was a secondary consideration.
“The predominant consideration was total price,” the RBA said. “The Bank also required that the successful tenderer be investing in renewable energy supply, and has the ability to provide up to 100 per cent of the Bank’s electricity needs from GreenPower (a product that coordinates the sale of accredited renewable energy supplies). Other considerations included supply reliability, customer service and reporting capabilities to enable the Bank to track its electricity usage.”
While the GreenPower program accredits supplies of electricity from renewable energy sources, including large-scale wind and solar projects, purchasing power does come at an additional cost. Suppliers of GreenPower are required to surrender a matching number of Renewable Energy Certificates, which ensures that renewable energy purchases under the scheme are additional to federal renewable energy targets, but the costs of those certificates are passed through to customers on top of their normal electricity costs.
In tender documents initially issued by the central bank, the RBA said it would be considering proposals from electricity retailers to supply power to the bank’s locations and supplies of up to 10 per cent GreenPower.
After being reported by RenewEconomy, the RBA hastily amended these tender documents saying it would instead consider proposals for the supply of up to 100 per cent GreenPower.
However, after selecting Delta Electricity as its preferred supplier, the RBA said that it had elected not to purchase 100 per cent GreenPower due to concerns about cost, but had refused to disclose the actual portion of electricity being sourced through GreenPower as it was commercial-in-confidence.
All of Australia’s big four commercial banks have made commitments to source 100 per cent of their electricity consumption from renewable sources, under the RE100 initiative, with most on track to meet this commitment by 2025.
The RBA has joined a number of international central banks in calling for companies and investors to seriously consider the risks posed by climate change, and joined in the release of analysis that suggested that coal use could be completely phased out in the Asian region under scenarios needed to meet goals under the Paris Agreement.
