Victorian Liberals Pledge Solar And Storage For State Schools

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Liberal Victoria has committed to providing all eligible Victorian public schools with solar panels and battery storage if it wins the November election.

Under a Liberal Nationals Government, all Victorian state schools without solar (approximately 700) will be eligible to receive solar power and battery systems as well as grants of $10,000 to assist with costs associated with implementation. Additionally, each of these installations will be Virtual Power Plant (VPP) ready.

“A Liberal Nationals Government will help public schools get back in control of sky rocketing electricity costs by providing them with solar panels and batteries,” said Leader of the Opposition, Matthew Guy. “If we don’t take back control now it will mean schools will spend even more on electricity and less on students and teachers.”

No mention was made of how large the installations would be, but Mr Guy says the systems could cut schools’ electricity costs by around a third. It’s intended that all systems will be installed by 2025.

Shadow Minister for Renewables David Southwick said renewable energy is the future, but “only a Liberal Nationals Government will do renewables right”, an interesting comment given the Andrews Labor Government has been doing pretty well on the renewables front during its time in power.

Mr. Southwick also called Victoria’s solar rebate a “winners-and-losers” initiative, but assuming Labor is returned to office there will eventually be 650,000 winners – and that’s households, not just individuals.

Still, more solar for schools is a great thing. With battery storage added and being VPP enabled, these installations could also help manage peak demand and provide other grid services.

Environment Victoria welcomed the news, but says the Liberals still need to lift their game on renewables.

“It is pleasing to see the Victorian Liberals finally joining the race to build more renewables, after having spent much of this term of Parliament vowing to scrap the Victorian Renewable Energy Target,” said Environment Victoria Campaigns Manager Dr Nicholas Aberle. “The next step for the Liberal party is to release a plan for repowering the entire state, not just state schools, with clean energy. Households and businesses deserve to benefit from renewable energy as well.”

Victoria’s Renewable Energy Target (VRET) became law just over a year ago. It calls for 25 per cent renewables by 2020 and 40 per cent by 2025.

Many Victorian schools already have solar panels on their rooftops thanks to the National Schools Solar program (NSSP), which ended in June 2013. While the NSSP may be long-gone, schools are eligible for Australia’s major solar subsidy, which can slash the up-front cost of installing a commercial solar system by many thousands of dollars.

The current Victorian government has also been providing assistance to selected schools in installing solar power through its Greener Government School Buildings pilot program.