Rooftop solar has long been out of reach for many renters and apartment dwellers but the Haystacks Solar Garden in NSW’s Riverina has pioneered a new model for people locked out of rooftop solar. Haystacks is Australia’s first large-scale solar garden — and a recent winner of a Banksia National Sustainability Award. With 175 ‘solar plots’ generating power from the Grong Grong solar farm, this community-led project offers a new model for energy equity and a fresh take on how big solar can partner with communities. Nigel Hancock from community energy group Pingala, one of the key partners behind Haystacks, explains how solar gardens work and whether the model can be scaled to empower more communities around the country.

Solar gardening – growing power for renters

Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, on China’s record solar and wind build, and why clean energy is now driving more than a third of the country’s economic growth.

China’s clean energy surge reshapes coal, oil and the grid

Camilla Hamilton from Cogency explains the importance of research, listening, and good coffee when consulting with communities on renewables. Plus news of the week.

What's the right way to consult with communities?

Francis Norman, the head of the Centre of Decommissioning Australia, on the extraordinary task of shutting down and removing oil and gas wells, and the lessons that could be learned for the offshore wind industry.

Special episode: How to close down oil and gas

The Australian trucking industry is about to experience an electric revolution, with plunging battery prices turning economics on its head. New Energy Transport's Daniel Bleakley explains. Plus: News of the week.

The revolution in electric trucking

Rooftop solar, home batteries and smart technology are transforming Australia’s electricity system and helping many households cut their power bills. But a controversial draft review from the Australian Energy Market Commission has sparked debate about whether electricity pricing is shifting costs onto people who've invested in consumer energy resources, or alternatively, those who can least afford them. Gavin Dufty, the national director of energy policy and research at the St Vincent de Paul society, draws on years of data from the Vinnies Tariff Tracker project to show what households actually pay for electricity across the country. He argues the current system may be creating new inequities between households able to invest in solar and smart technology and those who cannot, including renters and low-income households. At the centre of the debate is a difficult policy question: should electricity pricing reward households that reduce their reliance on the grid, or should everyone pay more to simply stay connected? The outcome of the AEMC’s review could shape how the costs of Australia’s energy transition are shared.

Are solar households shifting electricity costs onto everyone else?

Ben McGowan, managing director of community-owned retailer Indigo Power, on the key role mid-scale batteries can play in regional energy resilience. Plus news of the week.

How bushfires sparked a neighbourhood battery blueprint

David Hochschild, the head of the California Energy Commission, on how the world's fourth biggest economy is moving away from fossil fuels, despite Trump. Plus: News of the week.

How the world's fourth biggest economy plans to reach 100 pct clean energy

As renewable energy projects expand across regional Australia, the question of who benefits is becoming increasingly important. Governments are introducing community benefit guidelines to ensure host regions share in the economic gains – WA is the latest - but results so far have been mixed. Kim Mallee, a co-director at the Community Power Agency, argues that community benefits can’t be treated as an add-on – they must be shaped by communities themselves. Drawing on international examples from countries like Denmark, Scotland and Ireland, she explores how ownership, co-investment and community-led models can deliver deeper, longer-term value. CPA’s new report, Power in Partnership, outlines how these approaches could work in Australia and we can move beyond compensation towards genuine partnership in the energy transition.

Community benefits in renewables: How regional Australia can share the gains

Jonathan Pooch from DETA Consulting on the untapped riches of energy productivity. Plus news of the week.

How saving energy can save businesses a fortune

We talk to Jeff Monday from Fluence on the fall in battery costs and the role it can play in taming data centre demand, and Adam Cameron from SA Power Networks on why there will be no transition without the "flexibility" revolution in the home.

Why batteries are the answer to nearly everything

Join Anne Delaney as she tracks the electrification of everything with people at the forefront of the electrification transition.

Solar gardening – growing power for renters

SwitchedOn Australia

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