The Illawarra, site of Australia’s first urban renewable energy zone, will play host to an $11 million pilot program to demonstrate how social housing tenants can secure “immediate cost-of-living benefits” through the coordination of rooftop solar, home batteries and virtual power plant (VPP) technology.
The project, located around Wollongong to Sydney’s south, will install rooftop photovoltaics and batteries on selected social housing properties.
Energy systems across multiple homes will be linked to a VPP, permitting the use or export of stored power when most valuable to households and the power grid, the Albanese and Minns governments said in a statement.
The pilot is part of the second phase of $1.1 billion Social Housing Energy Performance Initiative – backed by $800m in federal funds and the remainder from states and territories – to improve the energy performance of 100,000 social housing properties out to mid-2031.
The VPP project itself will draw on $10m in federal support, with $1m contributed by NSW. Solar and battery installers and VPP operators will be able to provide feedback on the program’s design and delivery via a market sounding run by EnergyCo until 25 October.
The pilot is likely to benefit hundreds of households in the Illawarra REZ. Some homes that have already benefited from SHEPI support may be eligible for the project.
“People living in social housing should share in the benefits of cheaper, cleaner energy,” Josh Wilson, federal assistant minister for Climate Change and Energy, said.
Penny Sharpe, NSW’s energy minister, said residents would benefit from lower power bills. “The Illawarra is Australia’s first urban Renewable Energy Zone, making it the ideal place to trial practical solutions that support households with the cost of living,” she said.
Francis Vierboom, chief executive of Rewiring Australia, said the pilot plan was “a great announcement”, given the need to get more energy into urban centres.
While the Illawarra REZ had initially been developed to serve the region’s heavy industry, such as the BlueScope steelworks, the zone had evolved into “more of a social and cultural testbed”, Vierboom said. Rewiring Australia runs its flagship Electrify 2515 project in the area.
According to the NSW government, the first phase of SHEPI would to upgrade about 24,000 social housing homes by June 2027. The second phase, supported by $145.3m in federal funds nationally, would provide upgrades to a further 13,500 social housing residences in NSW, starting from the coming January.
NSW has about 95,000 social housing properties, with about 15,000 of them already receiving upgrades.
Residents, themselves, cannot apply for the SHEPI scheme. Housing providers select the properties that will be upgraded.
The federal government estimates more than 40,000 social housing properties nationally have so far benefitted from the SHEPI program.
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