Woollahra, Waverley and Inner West councils all sign up to $180 million renewable energy deal

By DANIEL LO SURDO

Twenty-five NSW councils, including Woollahra, Waverley, Randwick and Inner West Council, have agreed to a $180 million deal that will see electricity supplied to local facilities by three state-based solar farms, with 19 of the councils, including Woollahra, opting for 100 per cent renewable energy.

The deal, which will commence this year and last until at least 2026, was brokered by the Southern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (SSROC), which represents 11 Sydney councils and a third of the Greater Sydney population.

Woollahra Council estimates that total emissions will be reduced by nearly 50 per cent, with all 74 of their facilities and parks, as well as streetlights, to be supplied electricity under the new deal, which will begin 1 July.

NSW Minister for Local Government Wendy Tuckerman said that the work between councils to broker the deal showed “what all levels of government can achieve in aiming for net-zero emissions and energy security”, adding that this investment would be the “foundation of a brighter and cleaner future”.

In 2020, Woollahra Council announced that it had become the third NSW council to be certified as carbon neutral, meaning that all emissions associated with council’s operations were being offset by preventing the same number of emissions from entering the atmosphere.

In June last year, the neighbouring Waverley Council unanimously moved to fast-track their net-zero emissions targets to 100 per cent carbon neutrality by 2030, altering from its originally-planned 70 per cent reduction by 2030.

While this target was changed for council, Waverley Mayor Paula Masselos warned that community targets were “further behind than we are”, adding that the community target for a 30 per cent reduction of emissions by 2020 was not met.