A bold new plan to transform Australia's energy system to 100 per cent renewables has predicted savings of up to $20 billion a year in fuel and power costs.
The report, released on Thursday, recommends the government restore federal funding to the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, ensures everyone has access to solar, accelerates the rollout of batteries and calls for a gradual closure of coal mines.
Published by the Community Power Agency, the report says if the plan is followed, Australians would see lower prices in power and fuel as early as 2025 with savings of $9 billion a year on power and $11 billion a year on fuel by 2050.
Part of the plan is to create local energy markets which the report describes as "eBay for local energy" where websites and apps enable people to purchase electricity from neighbours or get it from a nearby solar garden or the wind turbine at a nearby farm.
One of the report's authors, Nicky Ison, said Australia's great wind and solar resources have the technical capacity to meet the nation's electricity needs by 2030.
"(The plan) has the level of ambition required to rapidly slash pollution from Australia's electricity sector, set the nation up as a clean energy export superpower and ensure all Australians can access affordable clean energy," Ms Ison said in a statement on Thursday.
To achieve that, the report says federal and state governments need to make coal and gas companies responsible for their own mess by setting binding pollution standards to be monitored through a proposed national Environment Protection Agency.
It also recommended an electric vehicle charging network be built for a renewable-powered super-highway around the country.
American environmental activist Bill McKibben slammed the federal government for its National Energy Guarantee and "woefully inadequate" pollution reduction targets.
"The federal government does not have a plan. What they have ... will lock in dirty coal for decades and stunt the growth of the clean energy sector at a time when Australia needs to turbo-charge its development," he said in a statement on Thursday.
The Community Power Agency is a group set up to grow the renewable energy sector in Australia and works with other organisations to address barriers facing the sector as a whole.
