The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), will be the first major city outside of Europe to run on 100% renewable energy, beginning January 1st, 2020.
“The ACT will officially be powered by 100% renewable electricity,” said, Shane Rattenbury the territory’s Climate Change Minister.
Canberra, a city with a population of nearly 400,000 people, is a self-governing territory. They source their energy from large-scale wind and solar projects from within the territory and other surrounding states, as well as many houses with solar panels.
“Going back about six or seven years, the ACT government made the commitment to start moving to this renewable electricity system,” said Rattenbury.
We now know that renewables are the cheapest new form of power you can build into the system and the ACT has been able to achieve 100% renewable electricity while maintaining some of the lowest electricity prices in the country.
According to the ACT government, the move to 100% renewable energy has reduced the territory’s emissions by more than 40% since the 1990s. The goal moving forward is to be completely carbon neutral by 2045. To get started with this next phase, they are now changing public transport to electric vehicles, which will include buses, cars, and even electric fire trucks.
Once we get to 100% renewable electricity, gas and transport become our two big emissions issues, with transport more than 60% of our emissions profile. We’re seeing a reduction in running costs of around 80% compared to the petrol cars that the electric vehicles are replacing, says Rattenbury.
Australia had previously set a national target to generate 33 terawatt-hours of their electricity from renewables by 2020. They ended up reaching that goal before the beginning of the New Year. However, greenhouse gases have continued to rise, meaning more action is needed.
“I think the national debate about energy and climate change is driven a lot by ideology and belief, rather than the basic facts,” said Rattenbury, “The ACT is proof positive, that if you make the political decision and get onto it, you can actually get this done.”
As for people who are opposed to making the changes, Rattenbury goes on to say:
People need to get out of the way. These are changes we can make – and have begun to make, There is no excuse not to get on and do the job.
They will also need to begin moving away from natural gas, to fully move away from fossil fuels. Rattenbury knows this will also be a challenge to get businesses and homes to transition from what was once thought to be a clean energy source.
