The Gillard Labor Government is providing $3.75 million towards Australia’s first large scale low carbon trigeneration energy network at Green Square in the City of Sydney.
The funding is from the $20 million Liveable Cities program, part of our efforts to make the nation’s major cities more productive, sustainable and liveable.
Trigeneration is an energy-efficient decentralised system for generating electricity, which also simultaneously provides heating and cooling - it is twice as energy efficient as coal-fired power stations.
The City of Sydney’s energy masterplan is the first in Australia aimed at connecting multiple buildings, in this case the town centre within the 278 hectare Green Square precinct.
The new network will service 3,300 homes and 5,500 residents.
It will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by around 40,000 tonnes a year and help the City of Sydney reach its target of a 70 percent reduction in emissions by 2030.
The project is being undertaken by the City of Sydney in partnership with Origin Energy and Landcom and other investors Mirvac, Leighton Properties and John Newell.
Green Square covers Zetland, Rosebery, Beaconsfield and parts of Waterloo and Alexandria.
From a national perspective, this far-sighted project is a great example of the kind of cooperation needed between governments and the private sector to address the big challenges facing our cities such as climate change, a lack of affordable housing, traffic congestion and a growing, ageing population.
That’s why Federal Labor has ended the Commonwealth’s self-imposed, decade long exile from our major cities and is again engaging with the states and territories and local councils to bring about a much needed urban renaissance.
As one of the most urbanised societies on the planet, Australia’s future economic prosperity and social cohesion will depend largely on how successful we are at making our cities more productive, sustainable and liveable.