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Polling shows a huge information gap - Australians in the dark on renewable energy shift

RE-Alliance

New polling shows the majority of Australians have no idea how much progress has been made in shifting the national electricity grid to one powered by renewable sources.

The latest Essential Report shows just 8% of Australians know how far along we are in the renewable energy shift, with 56% underestimating, and a further 20% saying they don’t know.

The results come as Australia’s main grid set a new renewables record on Monday - with the maximum instantaneous share of mostly solar and wind hitting an all-time high of 73%, pushing the share of coal to a new low. 

RE-Alliance National Director, Andrew Bray said a coherent, national communication plan was urgently needed to give Australians confidence that progress is being made.

“It’s concerning that the good news story hasn’t been told about how far we’ve come, given we’re almost halfway to our goal of generating 82% of our electricity from renewable sources by 2030,” Mr Bray said. 

Last year, renewables overall accounted for nearly 40% of Australia’s total electricity supply.

“The majority of Australia’s ageing and unreliable coal-fired power stations will close by 2035, so we need more renewables and storage built now to lower the cost of electricity generation. The longer we wait, the more we’ll pay through our power bills as we keep relying on expensive gas to prop up coal,” Mr Bray said.

Essential’s national poll of 1,132 people asked: Thinking about the shift towards renewable energy, what proportion of electricity in Australia’s main national grid do you think is currently being generated by renewable energy like solar and wind? 

RE-Alliance has been calling on the Federal Government to fix the national information gap on Australia’s shift to renewables with Local Energy Hubs for regional communities in the upcoming Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook. 

The Local Energy Hubs campaign has the backing of a raft of Federal and State MPs, and more than 40 Local Government representatives.

Andrew Bray said Local Energy Hubs could help solve the federal government’s communication problem.

“In a low trust environment we need physical centres with a strong outreach program in renewable energy regions, staffed by independent local experts to help build trust and get accurate information about what’s happening out there. Local Energy Hubs can do this.”

Local Energy Hubs would:

• Provide easy access to information in regional communities by hiring trusted and experienced local experts, across subjects such as renewable energy developments, transmission projects, home electrification and battery storage, electric vehicles and more
  
  

• Serve as outreach centres, providing services to support communities in understanding and participating in the shift to renewable energy 
  
  

• Be a crucial touchpoint for developers, helping to foster trust in communities for their projects through quality communication and engagement.
  
  

• Address barriers to the electrification of households, small businesses and farm businesses such as lack of time or quality advice
  
  

• Tackle complex challenges like ensuring communities know exactly how to have input into, and benefit from, large-scale projects proposed for their regions.
  
  

More information on the Local Energy Hubs model can be found at: localenergyhubs.org.au.

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For media inquiries and interviews please contact Kitty Walker on 0438 900 117 or kitty@re-alliance.org.au 

About RE-Alliance: RE-Alliance is working to secure an energy transformation that delivers long-term benefits and prosperity for regional and rural Australia. They do this by listening to the needs of communities, facilitating collaboration across the renewables industry to deliver social outcomes and advocating for meaningful engagement and benefits for regions.