Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I rise to talk about a wonderful initiative in Boothby: the City of Mitcham's Community Renewable Energy Program. As part of its commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, the City of Mitcham partnered with renewable energy supplier ShineHub to provide residents with bulk-buyer discounts on solar panels and battery technologies. The process enables residents to buy solar panels and batteries at a discounted rate.

I'm delighted to report that, since expressions of interest opened in May this year, the council has received a staggering 2,000-plus registrations of interest from the community, and, from that, 535 solar batteries have been ordered. That's 535 additional batteries in the city of Mitcham alone, driving our transition to renewable energy. Even better, all 535 households who have ordered these batteries have also signed up to be part of a virtual power plant. This virtual power plant aggregates the power stored by these batteries to provide stability to the electricity grid. In fact, the latest report suggests that the virtual power plant created by this project equates to 2.5 megawatts of dispatchable load, working to increase supply and reliability and ultimately reduce costs for residents who are part of this program. This is just one example of the enthusiasm with which Boothby residents are taking up renewables when they're available, and I really commend the City of Mitcham for their leadership in this program.