Making it happen – clean, green energy
The City has an ambitious plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 70 per cent by 2030 which can also cut electricity bills for NSW consumers.
To help achieve this target the City has appointed UK energy expert Allan Jones. His previous work reduced greenhouse gas emissions at the city of Woking by 80 per cent and produced similar results for the city of London.
At the moment, 80 per cent of the City of Sydney’s emissions come from the production of electricity by coal-fired power stations in the Hunter Valley. Two thirds of the energy being used by these stations is wasted as heat from the cooling towers and on long-distance transmission over power lines to Sydney.
The City’s goal is to produce 70 per cent of its energy needs locally from trigeneration plants. These local generators are nearly three times more energy efficient than coal-fired power plants because they use the waste heat from electricity production to both heat and cool buildings. The rest of the City’s reductions will come from energy efficiency measures and from installing renewable energy such as solar panels.
Local power for the City of Sydney
Allan Jones is responsible for the tendering process for the trigeneration systems. This has attracted interest from major energy companies here and overseas. He is also overseeing the rollout of energy efficiency programs on the City’s 200 properties and setting up a $2 million dollar a year renewable energy installation fund.
Over the next three years electricity prices in NSW will rise by up to 42 per cent with the majority going to pay for a $5 billion dollar upgrade of the electricity network of cables, poles and substations. Local trigeneration plants, energy efficiency measures and renewable energy would remove the need for much of this upgrade and also for any new coal-fired power stations that would cost, in total, between $3 billion and $4 billion.
However, government regulations are preventing the City from carrying out the plan to supply city building owners with this local, low-carbon electricity and reduce electricity bills for NSW consumers. Allan Jones has been meeting with NSW government ministers and the Opposition, calling for the removal of these regulatory barriers to local energy production and distribution. He has also written a submission to the Federal Government’s energy efficiency task group which reports mid-year.
Trigeneration Master Plan
A key component of Sustainable Sydney 2030 is the call for a network of Green Transformers, principally housing trigeneration, to supply the City of Sydney local government area with low-carbon electricity and zero-carbon heating and cooling.
In 2009, the City engaged a consortium of Kinesis, Cogent and Origin Energy to develop the City’s Decentralised Energy Master Plan – Trigeneration (Trigeneration Master Plan). This is the first of the City’s Green Infrastructure Master Plans, which will produce significant energy savings across the city.
There was extensive modelling of the electricity, heating and cooling demands of buildings in the local government area to determine the optimal sizes and locations for trigeneration systems.
An interim Trigeneration Master Plan has been completed covering the four energy dense zones of the city – CBD North/Barangaroo, CDB South, Pyrmont/Broadway and Green Square. Together, these four zones would deliver 360MWe of trigeneration, which would exceed the City’s target.
The interim Trigeneration Master Plan would reduce the City’s greenhouse gas emissions by between 1.1 million and 1.7 million tonnes a year. This represents a reduction in these emissions of between 39 per cent and 56 per cent for the building sector and between 18 per cent and 26 per cent of the overall Sustainable Sydney 2030 target.
The interim Master Plan is on public exhibition until Friday 28 January 2011, and the final Trigeneration Master Plan is expected to be completed in 2011.
For more information read the Decentralised Energy Master Plan – Trigeneration resources under ‘Green Infrastructure Plan’ below.
Read an article on the Global Mail website entitled The Hidden Cost Of Infinite Energy (Part 2) by Ellen Fanning on rising electricity prices, the solutions and action being taken by the City of Sydney.
Resources
Tender documents
- Expression of interest: Trigeneration Systems Design, Installation, Operation and Maintenance (PDF 128kb)
- Request for tender: Trigeneration Systems Design, Installation, Operation and Maintenance with Finance and City-Wide ESCO Options (PDF 783kb)
- Decentralised Water Master Plan – tender advertisement (PDF 71kb)
- Decentralised Water Mast Plan – Part D: Specifications (Section 1, PDF 364kb)
- Decentralised Water Mast Plan – Part D: Specifications (Section 2, PDF 1.2 MB)
- Decentralised Energy Master Plan – Part A Trigeneration – Expression of Interest (PDF 286kb)
- Decentralised Energy Master Plan – Part A Trigeneration – Request for Tender
(PDF 363kb) - Decentralised Energy Master Plan – Part B Renewable Energy – Request for Tender
(PDF 342kb) - Building Energy and Water Efficiency Retrofit – Expression of Interest (PDF, 123kb)
- Building Energy and Water Efficiency Retrofit – Request for Tender (PDF 579Kb)
- Energy Efficient LED Lighting Retrofit of the City’s Public Domain Lighting Luminaires – Request for Tender (PDF 650Kb)
- A, B, C and D Schedule of Rates
- Photovoltaic Systems – Expression of Interest (PDF, 221kb)
- Photovoltaic Systems – Request for Tender (PDF 401kb)
Energy and climate change briefings
- Energy and climate change briefing 1 – April 2010 (PDF 126kb)
- Energy and climate change briefing 2 – June 2010 (PDF 105kb)
- Energy and climate change briefing 3 – October 2010 (PDF 146kb)
- Energy and climate change briefing 4 – June 2011 (PDF 140kb)
- Power stations and water demand (PDF, 220kb)
- Hydrogen Fuel Cells (PDF, 619kb)
Green Infrastructure Plan
- Interim Trigeneration Master Plan (8MB)
- Interim Trigeneration Master Plan – Technical Appendix (5MB)
- Interim Trigeneration Master Plan media release (35KB)
Interim Trigeneration Master Plan Factsheets
- The Green Infrastructure Plan PDF (1MB)
- Trigeneration – The Business Advantages PDF (654KB)
- Trigeneration – The International Perspective PDF (756KB)
- Renewable Energy (2MB)
- Putting Sustainable Sydney 2030 into action PDF (1MB)
- Action on Greenhouse Gas Emissions (1MB)
Decentralised energy
- UTS Closer to Home/Benefits of Decentralised Energy report (PDF 2MB)
- Decentralised energy information (PDF 73kb) – contains links to useful information explaining decentralised energy
- Decentralised Energy Master Plan CCHP (PDF 130kb) – City CCHP project update 1
Prime Minister’s Task Group on Energy Efficiency
Regulatory barriers to trigeneration
- Removal of Barriers to Trigeneration (PDF 1.5MB)
- Approach to retail exemptions issues paper – Submission to the Australian Energy Regulator (PDF 156kb)
Council reports
- Extraordinary Council Trigeneration Negotiation – Authority for Commitment of Expenditure, 6 February 2012. (PDF 76Kb)
- Tender – Corporate, finance, properties & tenders committee 28 november 2011 led lighting (PDF 97Kb)
- Corporate, finance, properties & tenders committee 28 november 2011 trigeneration negotiation (PDF 102kb)
- Tender – Trigeneration Systems for City of Sydney Council’s facilities (design, installation, operations and maintenance) (PDF 97Kb)
- Property Division – Forecast on C02 emissions reductions – Peer review (PDF 74kb) – Environment and Heritage Committee, May 2009
- Decentralised Energy Master Plan (Renewable energy) – Tender (PDF 71kb) – Corporate, Finance, Properties and Tenders Committee, September 2009
- Business Case to Establish an Alternative Waste Technology Facility – Tender (PDF 68kb) – Corporate, Finance, Properties and Tenders Committee, September 2009
- Decentralised Energy Master Plan Tender Part A – Combined Cooling, Heat And Power (PDF 73kb) – Extraordinary Council Meeting, October 2009
- Building Lighting Efficiency Retrofit – Stage 1 – Tender (PDF 64kb) – Corporate, Finance, Properties and Tenders Committee, March 2010
- Sponsorship – Events Promoting Sustainability (PDF 68kb) – Environment and Heritage Committee, May 2010
- Membership of the Climate Group’s Lightsavers Initiative (PDF 79kb) – Environment and Heritage Committee, May 2010
- Sponsorship – Sustainable Community Development Tool (PDF 63kb) – Environment and Heritage Committee, May 2010
- GreenPower and Renewable Energy for the City of Sydney (PDF 220kb) – Environment and Heritage Committee, May 2010
- C40 Large Cities Climate Change Summit – Sao Paulo 2011, Environment & Heritage Committee, November 2010 (PDF 77Kb)
- Tender – Decentralised Water Master Plan (PDF 68kb)- Corporate, Finance, Properties and Tenders Committee, November 2010
- Expression of Interest – Panel of Experts for the Delivery of Green Infrastructure (PDF 76kb) – Corporate, Finance, Properties and Tenders Committee, November 2010
- Trigeneration Master Plan (PDF 92KB), Council Meeting, December 2010
- Trigeneration Master Plan – Attachment A (5.9MB), Council Meeting, December 2010
- Trigeneration Master Plan – Attachment B (2.5MB), Council Meeting, December 2010
- Local Goverment Amendment (Environmental Upgrade Agreements) Bill 2010 (60KB)
- Request for Tender – Panels of Experts for the Delivery of Green Infrastructure, Corporate, Finance, Properties and Tenders Committee, February 2011 (PDF 75Kb)
- Tender – Trigeneration Systems Design, Installation, Operation and Maintenance, Council Meeting, April 2011 (PDF 97Kb)
- Tender – Supply of Carbon Offsets, Corporate, Finance, Properties and Tenders Committee, May 2011 (PDF 80Kb)
- Tender – Building Energy and Water Efficiency Retrofit, Corporate, Finance, Properties and Tenders Committee, August 2011 (PDF 582Kb)
- Tender – Energy Efficient LED Lighting Retrofit, Corporate, Finance, Properties and Tenders Committee, August 2011 (PDF 93Kb)
Presentations
- Video: Moving Cities Towards a Sustainable Low Carbon Future – Presentation to the Urban Sustainability Support Alliance
- City Talk – 22 July 2008 Green Transformers: revolutionising energy generation for a Sustainable Sydney
- City Talk – 25 October 2010 Sydney’s energy revolution – building a low-carbon city
- All-Energy Australia 2011 12 October 2011 (PDF 45Mb)
- Better Buildings partnership briefing 7 December 2011 (PDF 17Mb)
Presentations to NSW Councils, 19 August 2010
