Community Energy Drinks 2018

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To round out a busy 2018 we will be holding drinks and online events across the country on or soon after Wednesday 12th December. Come along to celebrate achievements in the last 12 months, hear about how you could get more involved in C4CE’s committee and make or renew some industry connections that will kick start a great 2019 for community energy.

Find an Event Near you:

  • Adelaide: Wednesday 12th Dec. 6pm-8pm, Kings Head Backstage area, 357 King William St, Adelaide. contact: heather[at]changingweather.com.au RSVP on Facebook
  • Melbourne: 6 – 8 pm on Tuesday 18th December, Bar Carlo, 20 Meyers Place (off Bourke St), Melbourne 3000. contact: gavinmashley[at]gmail.com Event on Facebook
  • Sydney: 6pm Thursday 20th December, venue: TBC near Central Station,  contact: Jonathan Prendergast. RSVP and Updated details on Facebook

Organise an Event:

  • If you’d like to meet your local community energy peeps, book a place and time, invite your mates, let us know and we will publicise it here.

Join an Event but stay at home:

  • South Australia: Once we have drinks in hand (6:30pm) we will open up the Zoom meeting, make introductions and share our news with whoever turns up: zoom meeting ID https://zoom.us/j/4178622066 email: heather[at]changingweather.com.au for more Zoom details.

Ulterior Motive

We are refreshing our committee membership and planning for 2019. Connecting with C4CE will give you an opportunity to have your say about what we might achieve at a national level and to discover if you are interested in volunteering in the year ahead.  We will be calling for Expressions of Interest for our committee and sub-committees from 12th December through to 14th January 2019.

Planning for 2019

Our next Congress will be in 2020 so we want to make the most of existing events for promoting community energy in 2019. If you know events we should be thinking about please let us know or provide information directly into our 2019 planner.
We will be trying to amplify the voices of the community energy sector so please make sure you put your group’s social media presence into the planner as well.

Merry Christmas All – Your Advent Calendar

This year we decided to surprise you by introducing you, one day at a time, to 24 of the leaders across our sector. You may have seen the posts appearing daily on our Facebook and Twitter streams and you can enjoy the full Advent Calendar here.

Infigen Energy – Bronze sponsor of the Community Energy Congress

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image001Infigen Energy is a specialist renewable energy business and has interests in 24 wind farms across Australia and the United States. A total installed capacity in excess of 1,600MW (on an equity interest basis), means Infigen currently generates enough renewable energy per year to power over half a million households. As a fully integrated renewable energy business in Australia, the company develops, builds, owns and operates energy generation assets and directly manages the sale of the electricity produced to a range of customers in the wholesale market. Infigen Energy trades on the Australian Securities Exchange under the code IFN.

Infigen’s first community-involved project is the current investigation of community interest and participation in its Flyers Creek wind farm project. This has led to the creation and support of the Central NSW Renewable Energy Cooperative (CENREC), which is represented at the Congress.

Infigen’s main objective for the Congress is to demonstrate its continuing support for the development of community energy projects in Australia and the importance of the Renewable Energy Target in that development. As Australia’s flagship renewable energy policy, it has been crucial for encouraging community investment in renewable energy and for lowering the cost of energy. It currently supports local businesses and communities to build local enterprises, reduce costs and build energy security. Removing the RET would seriously undermine the important role that community ownership plays in the renewable energy sector.

“There have been many previous reviews of the [Renewable Energy Target] legislation, and those reviews have essentially found that the scheme operates well. It has created the beginnings of a good industry in Australia, and it has achieved the objectives that were set out in the Act,” said Miles George, Managing Director of Infigen Energy.

Significant community ownership of renewable energy facilities is a feature of the UK, USA, Germany, Canada and Denmark and has been integral to the broad acceptance and then deployment of clean energy technologies in those nations. In these countries, community investment is supported through feed-in-tariffs, direct subsidy or legislated minimum participation.

Infigen supports the development of all these direct community support mechanisms in Australia.

Last chance to register for the Community Energy Congress!

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Today is your last chance to register for what is set to be a sell-out first Community Energy Congress!

With only four sleeps to go, the program is at the printers (and online and downloadable here), Mayor Arno Zengerle from the award-winning renewable energy village Wildpoldsried in Germany is on his way and almost 300 participants are getting organised to be at the opening session of the Community Energy Congress at the National Library of Australia (NLA) on Monday.  Now is your last chance to be one of them, as seats are almost gone!

Community Energy Congress
16-17 June, 2014
National Library of Australia, Canberra
www.c4ce.net.au/congress

Click here to register!

An amazing program of events includes:

  • Training sessions on essential skills for community energy on Sunday afternoon and Wednesday morning
  • A fantastic social event 5.30-7.30 Monday 16th at the NLA organised by the South East Region of Renewable Energy Excellence and Solar Share
  • Inspiring speakers including Ivor Frischknecht, Simon Holmes à Court, David Green and Mayor Arno Zengerle
  • Political leaders including ACT Environment Minister Simon Corbell, NSW Environment Minister Rob Stokes, Shadow Federal Resources Minister Gary Gray and Greens Leader Senator Christine Milne
  • The official launch of the Coalition for Community Energy.  Find out more and register your interest to become a member by 1pm Tuesday 17th and go in the running to win a beautiful hamper – valued at $200 – and full of Capital Region and Australian goodies.
  • Thirteen breakout sessions covering a huge range of topics essential to developing a successful community energy project and growing a vibrant community energy sector.  Examples include – Making Community Solar Projects Happen, Policy Context, Show me the Money, Selling Energy, Not just Talking about Generation, Community Bioenergy and Hydro – How do we make it happen; and
  • An opportunity to help shape a Australia’s National Community Energy Strategy on Tuesday morning – click here for a detailed invitation.

On behalf of the Congress Organising Team, Nicky Ison adds,”The inaugural Community Energy Congress will be an event that participants look back on as the moment community energy became a part of Australia’s energy mainstream.  Join us for this important event and help us grow a vibrant community energy movement that benefits all Australians. I hope to see you on Monday.”

This Sunday is also Global Wind Day. To celebrate, the Coalition for Community Energy have joined with a number of other organisations to host a family picnic on the front lawns of Parliament House.  Join us and be part of the national body of support for the renewable energy target.  Sunday 15th June from 11am – 12.30pm.  To find out more, click here.