About the Authors

The Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF) was established by the University of Technology, Sydney in 1996 to work with industry, government and the community to develop sustainable futures through research and consultancy. Our mission is to create change toward sustainable futures that protect and enhance the environment, human well being and social equity.

Starfish Initiatives is a registered charity whose purpose is to create and support regional sustainability throughout Australia and beyond. Our work embodies the ability of real starfish, to self-replicate and self-heal as powerful principles for sustainability. Starfish has a long-standing involvement with community energy which began with Australia’s largest community solar energy initiative to date, Farming the Sun.  Starfish is also leading work on New England Wind,North Coast Energy Forum and has been a founding member of C4CE.

Community Power Agency was established in 2011 to support the growth of a vibrant community renewable energy sector in Australia. We work with communities to strengthen capacities to develop community owned renewable energy projects. We also collaborate with a range of organisations at a national level to address policy and systemic barriers facing the sector. Our vision is for a fair and sustainable energy sector that provides real benefit for more Australians and our environment.

Embark is a non-profit organisation focused on accelerating the uptake of community renewable energy projects. Embark has developed a number of innovative community business models that address the major barriers holding back the growth of the community renewable energy sector, particularly in relation to funding and governance and coupled with our community engagement processes. Embark works to shift the community energy sector into the mainstream, as a proven and financially viable model capable of attracting large-scale investment and growing to meet its full potential.

Alternative Technology Association (ATA) is a not-for-profit organisation that exists to connect, inspire and assist people to make sustainable choices in their homes and communities. Established in 1980, the ATA provides expert, independent advice on sustainable solutions to households, communities, government and industry. The ATA has more than 5000 members and has helped thousands of households save money and reduce their environmental footprint with information on energy efficiency, solar power, rainwater tanks, materials reuse and waste. The ATA also advocates in government and industry arenas to remove barriers to affordable, sustainable living for all Australians.

Total Environment Centre: Established in 1972 by pioneers of the Australian environmental movement, TEC has committed nearly 40 years work toward protecting the natural and urban environment, flagging issues, driving debate, supporting community activism and pushing for better environmental policy and practice. TEC has been involved in National Electricity Market (NEM) advocacy for ten years, arguing above all for greater utilisation of demand side participation — energy conservation and efficiency, demand management and decentralised generation — to meet Australia’s electricity needs.

E2Q (Appendix C: Community Energy Collective Impact Assessment Author) is helping companies and institutions to harness the power of cognitive, emotional and ecological intelligence to improve economic, environmental and social performance. We use human-centred design principles and empirical research methods to inform the design, implementation and optimisation of projects and programs aimed at organisational and social change towards a more sustainable future.

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to acknowledge and thank ARENA for the funding provided for this Strategy and the NSW Regional Clean Energy Program for their support and input.

We would like to acknowledge the Moreland Energy Foundation, Repower Shoalhaven and Clearsky Community Solar for their participation, significant input and help drafting and developing the Behind the Meter Solar Resources (Appendix E) and Cost Modelling Research (Appendix F). We would like to thank New England Wind and Hepburn Wind for participating in the Cost Modelling Research and Dr Declan Kuch from the University of New South Wales. We would also like to thank Sustainable Regional Australia for being involved in the oversight of the National Community Energy Strategy project. Thank you too to Jenni Downes at ISF and Pete Arkins at Starfish Initiatives for their design work on the National Strategy and supporting documents. Finally we would like to thank the hundreds of individuals and over 40 community groups who participated in the research that lead to this strategy as well as those who participated in the Strategy development as part of the inaugural Community Energy Congress.

Institute for Sustainable Futures
University of Technology, Sydney
PO Box 123
Broadway, NSW, 2007
www.isf.edu.au
© UTS September 2014