BENDIGO groups keep hitting roadblocks amid a huge ramp up in the community's fight against climate change, a parliamentary inquiry has suggested after touring Victoria.
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The same problem cropped up across the state as councils, community groups and businesses locked in to sweeping action led from the ground up.
Pools of state funding are often too small to meet demand or too piecemeal in their approach, the inquiry said as it outlined a 38 wide-ranging findings and 72 recommendations.
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It has called for a $20 million blitz over four years in 20 communities to keep transitioning to green energy.
Each community should get $1 million to make that happen under the idea sketched out in the inquiry's report. The push should be inspired by a model being used in the Hepburn shire to reach zero net emissions.
More state money could help avoid projects running out of steam once pilot projects have finished and help groups navigate sometimes onerous grant application and administration processes.
Many green ideas face barriers because they are among the first of their type, the inquiry has found.
That includes in Bendigo, where community groups have been considering turning abandoned mineshafts into a pumped hydro-electricity plant.
The state government has funded early feasibility studies but backers need money for more planning that would "de-risk" the project and help it appeal to potential investors.
A separate Melbourne University report last year found the pumped hydro plan could work but that community groups were forced to navigate too much red tape to make the project viable.
The inquiry has also found that many communities want to get in on sweeping changes to electricity distribution that will likely take place over the coming decades, including starting up their own mid-scale solar and wind projects.
They include Hepburn Wind, the only fully community-owned wind farm in Victoria, as well as smaller generators like a 19.4mw wind farm at Coonooer Bridge, northwest of Bendigo, where 33 neighbouring landowners own shares.
The inquiry noted that the Bendigo Sustainability Group is working on plans for community-owned solar projects near town.
It argued the government should introduce a 100mw renewable energy target for Victorian communities by 2025.
The "community energy target" would help marshal enthusiasm for green projects and give community groups a clearer sense of how they were helping in renewable roll-outs, the inquiry found in a report tabled in stage parliament on Wednesday.
Many, including Bendigo's, already have longer term 100 per cent renewable energy targets.
The government is required to respond to the inquiry's findings within six months.