Renewable energy advocate and former coal miner Darryl Best at the pop-up local energy hub promotion in Crown Street Mall on Wednesday (16 April).
Electrify your home, install rooftop solar, get a battery, connect to a community battery – it can all feel a bit overwhelming.
Then throw in the rising cost of power bills and the offshore wind debate and it’s easy to feel defeated by the sheer amount of noise.
Illawarra advocates for local energy hubs hope to cut through the noise and make information about everything energy easily accessible.
You wouldn’t need a research degree, or have to put up with the nastiness that often surrounds online debate.
Instead you could walk into a shop, ask an independent expert the questions that are important to you, and get the latest, verified information.
A pop-up event in Crown Street Mall to demonstrate what such a hub could look like in Wollongong attracted a dozen volunteers and at least as many passers-by on Wednesday (16 April).
The pop-up was organised by RE-Alliance, Community Power Agency, Yes2Renewables and Good for the Gong.
Former coal miner and renewable energy advocate Darryl Best said an energy transition was coming and the best way to prepare for it was by being informed.
“Coal mines will eventually shut, that’s just a fact of life,” he said.
“China is investing heavily in renewables and when they stop buying our coal that’s most of our local mines closed.
“We’ve been identified as a renewable energy zone and 52 per cent of the jobs that are coming here could be done by coal miners with a little bit of upskilling.
“At a local energy hub you can ask any questions you like and find out how to maximise the benefits we can get as a community.
“That can be anything from cheaper electricity, to jobs, to some percentage of the profits being put back into the community.”
There’s political support for the idea of a local energy hub in the Illawarra.
MPs Alison Byrnes, Stephen Jones and Fiona Phillips publicly called for a community engagement hub for the region in their joint submission to the Offshore Wind Consultation Inquiry in 2024.
However, no-one wants to spend the money to make it happen.
Without bipartisan funding, the dream of an independent information centre is hard to achieve.
Proponents hope in the lead up to an election in which the cost of living, transition to renewables and climate are hot topics, there might be a bit more political will to get the hubs going.
Andrew Bray, National Director of RE-Alliance, said communities needed to be involved in the transition to renewables, not feel as though it was being foisted on them.
He believes the hubs would be one way of achieving that.
“Today’s event in Wollongong shows what’s possible, but it also highlights why we’ve been campaigning for local energy hubs across Australia,” he said.
“We’re calling on the Federal Government to fund these centres in renewable energy regions to ensure people are supported with practical advice that’s relevant to where they live.”
