Don't mention the wind farm!

 

We believe that council has signed on to a 100% renewable power purchase agreement (PPA) and that they probably did so several months ago.  

We emphasise that we have no inside information - we have simply joined some publicly available dots and we may have it completely wrong - and, if so, we’ll humbly wipe the egg from our face.

But if we are right, council has been inexplicably silent about it.  Why might that be?

Background

Several clues lead us to our belief:

1. At an extraordinary meeting convened at short notice on January 11, council perversely voted to rescind a decision by the previous council to develop a renewable energy strategy.

2. At the first ordinary meeting of council on February 8, item 24 on the agenda - described as a contract renewal matter - was discussed in closed meeting.

Subsequently, the publicly available meeting minutes disclosed this about the resolution that was carried in closed meeting:

Note the reference to a seven year contract.  (LGP stands for Local Government Procurement.)

3. On May 10 the Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (WSROC) reported that they had “secured another win, facilitating the development of a 100% renewable power purchase agreement (Renewable PPA) through Local Government Procurement (LGP)”.

The seven year contract is with Iberdrola, who own and operate the Collector Wind farm and have several other wind and solar projects in the pipeline.

The report goes on to say that “the LGP Renewable PPA is now active, with 34 NSW councils signed up to date”.  The 34 councils are not identified.  However Blacktown and Blue Mountains are named as having taken a lead role.  Blue Mountains City Council reported the good news here in December, 2021.

So, has council signed a renewable PPA?

Our interest was first piqued by the reference to a seven year contract at the February 8 meeting.  That sounds like a service agreement rather than property or any other type of procurement or acquisition.  The WSROC announcement (another seven year contract) firmed our initial suspicion.

But why no announcement?  Of course our speculation may have been simply wrong.  Other seven year contracts are available!  Perhaps the seven year contract was to maintain and replenish the vending machines in council offices?   

Or maybe we were right but there was some contractual constraint - to do with the termination of any prior PPA, perhaps?  If so, then I’m afraid we have let the cat out of the bag now!  

But then there was last week’s meeting at which council discussed their zero-climate-action annual plan.  During the debate several councillors made oblique and non-specific remarks about renewable energy measures the council had already taken and it seemed quite clear that the remarks pertained to more than LED streetlights and some rooftop solar installations.

While their remarks were not sufficiently explicit to settle the matter, the weight of evidence now seems to us to point very firmly to the fact that The Hills Shire Council is one of the 34 councils that have signed on to a 100% renewable power purchase agreement (PPA).

If true, what do we make of it?

Powering council with renewable electricity is indisputably a climate-positive move - irrespective of  council’s motivations.

Renewable PPAs have for several years been an important tool helping to drive us towards 100% renewable electricity.  The financial security of a locked-in power purchase agreement facilitates renewable electricity development by providing generators with guaranteed income and making it easier for them to get finance for developing further renewables.

This was especially important early in the renewables roll-out when renewables struggled to build a business case in the presence of an overwhelmingly fossil-fuel powered grid and in the absence of public and government support.

In Australia, Greenpeace have been running their ReEnergise campaign for some time to get Australia’s largest corporations to commit to purchasing 100% renewable electricity with many notable successes including household names such as Woolworths, Coles and Bunnings. Internationally RE100 has been running a similar campaign.

In NSW the build-out of renewables is now well underway, with momentum and with state and (now) federal government commitment.  Consequently financing may be less of an issue than it once was.  But, even if late to the party, council's move (if confirmed) will help to build our future renewable grid - as  evidenced by the pipeline of projects that WSROC reports is in the pipeline for the Iberdrola, the provider.

The pressing need in our grid now is for energy storage.  To succeed in reaching 100% renewable electricity we must accelerate the rollout of battery and pumped-hydro storage.  We are not alone in that.  To address the storage need, the international gold standard in power purchase agreements may soon be 24x7 carbon-free energy but we suspect that such agreements are not readily available here in Australia yet:

Google and others have committed to 24/7 carbon-free energy. What does that mean?

Another benefit of high-profile organisations switching to 100% renewable electricity is the legitimacy that it adds to the drive to convert our grid to renewables.  Well-known companies such as Woolworths, Coles and Bunnings being publicly seen to make the switch legitimises and normalises renewable energy in a way that no amount of expert reports ever could.  Of course this benefit is only realised if the organisation announces the move!

So, if council has signed on to a 100% renewable electricity purchase agreement, then we  applaud that move.

Or at least we would … if we knew.

So council is off the climate action hook, right?

Hell no.  This is good, but there is so very, very much more to be done.  And we have every reason to believe that our council has no interest in acknowledging climate change or in acting to address it.  Their recent annual plan confirms it.  And if our speculation here is correct, the fact that we have to reveal the news of this renewable PPA is further confirmation.

And let’s most particularly return to the first of the “clues” that we listed above - the truly extraordinary “emergency” rescission of the decision to commission a renewable energy strategy …

If council thinks that signing a 100% renewable PPA negates the need for a renewable energy strategy then either (a) they simply don’t get it, or (b) they are prepared to use any pretext to avoid taking or being seen to take any type of climate action.

And why wouldn’t they announce it?  Why?

So, if we are right, why has council not announced it?  We don’t know - we can only speculate.  But this whole blog piece is speculation.  And that’s a bit of fun so why stop now?  Here are some possible factors that occur to us:

• We believe it is probable that council’s motivation is overwhelmingly if not exclusively financial.  In other words, this renewable PPA was assessed to be the most financially beneficial option.  (The  WSROC article also suggests possible benefits relating to consolidating multiple power supply contracts.)  As such council may not deem it worthy of special mention - no more so than the contract to replenish the vending machines.  This would be true to form for a council that refuses to acknowledge the climate crisis.

• Given council’s record and the public statements of some councillors, we doubt very much that reducing carbon emissions was a factor in this decision, even if it happens to be a consequence.  And most certainly not at any increased cost!

• Council and/or councillors may not wish to be publicly perceived as yielding in any way to the demands of climate science or of non-Liberal members of the council or of climate activists.

• The Liberal members of council were selected and appointed to their positions by the hard-right of the NSW Liberal party - presumably to serve the interests of that party faction.  Possibly they do not consider it to be in their political interest to be seen by their party masters as conceding any ground on climate issues.

• And then there is the matter of democratic accountability.  Before December’s election the Liberal team led by the mayor declined to participate in our candidate questionnaires and did not refer publicly in any way to climate or their position on it during the campaign.  Contempt for the democratic process on full display!  Now they have a social media moderation policy under consideration that would ban all “political” discussion on their (our) social media platforms.  And then there is this inexplicable secrecy.  Is it the case that the Mayor and the Liberal councillors have such an arrogant contempt for the democratic process that they see no obligation to keep the public informed on such matters?  Do they take for granted that the Liberal party owns this shire?

I’m alright, Jack

One final and slightly tangential observation.  It is important that we remember that individuals and organisations sourcing renewable energy at favourable rates has the effect of transferring a greater share of the burden of the present energy price hikes to those least able to afford it and who do not have such privileged renewable energy access or other price protection.

This is not a criticism of council or of a renewable PPA.  If it were then it could be applied very widely including to this writer’s household.

But let’s all remember that the current energy crisis has very real health, welfare and financial impacts on large numbers of people and on businesses (especially small businesses) that do not enjoy protection from volatile energy prices.  They deserve and require appropriate policy responses too.