The state’s top energy advocate says there is no doubt wholesale electricity prices will drop over the next four years as more renewable energy comes onto the market.
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Speaking after an energy workshop in Bendigo Thursday morning, Victorian renewable energy advocate Simon Corbell pointed to research by Green Energy Markets suggesting prices would soon be on the way down.
Business representatives had been driven to the Bendigo forum as the nation’s electricity bills have risen.
For many companies prices have risen by between 50 and 100 per cent in the last 18 months, Mr Corbell said.
Those rises were driven by gas price increases, Mr Corbell said, as well as a shortfall in new energy sources following the closure of coal-fire powered facilities.
“Businesses want to know how renewable energy, and energy efficiency, can help them reduce those costs,” he said.
“The good news is that these (renewable) technologies can well and truly deliver savings and there are lots of good financing options and programs available as well.”
In fact, Mr Corbell said the 7200 megawatts expected from extra-large scale renewable energy over the next four years would double what was lost when Hazelwood closed in 2017.
The workshop at the All Seasons Resort Hotel was run by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning and the City of Greater Bendigo.
The Bendigo Sustainability Group helped put the program together and president Chris Weir said it was a chance to help establish information portals for local businesses contemplating renewable ways to become more energy efficient.
“Sometimes businesses are time-poor but the energy bills keep coming in,” he said.
Mr Weir said that in the past, local manufacturers and other businesses had been happy relying on the wider electricity network. Now they were embracing “embedded networks”.
“Behind the electricity meter – in other words, on their properties – they are starting to think about energy storage, roof-top solar, demand management systems and other new technology so they can manage power usage on site,” he said.
The benefits for businesses in tackling electricity costs went far beyond avoiding bill shock, Mr Weir said.
“It’s also about business processes and thinking about their assets. Power is a part of that, so it’s about the efficiency of engines and processes,” he said.
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Tom O'Callaghan
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
