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Energy Management Strategy
Climate change and population growth are adding to the strain on finite water and energy resources.
We’re taking strong action against climate change now, without compromising our resilience and service reliability. We're adapting to the changing environment through our Energy Management Strategy, Urban Water Strategy, and Climate Change Strategy.
Our energy requirements and costs are likely to increase in the future from:
- Population growth - Our region is projected to undergo significant growth over the next twenty years which means our water resources will need to go further.
- Climate Change – the warmer weather, unpredictable rainfall and extreme weather events bought on by the changing climate means that our customers need more water to stay cool and we rely on more energy intensive water sources for our systems.
- The cost of energy - the energy market in Australia is undergoing significant changes which has increased the costs significantly and will likely continue to increase.
To meet these challenges, we're approaching energy management in a sustainable, integrated, holistic way and will:
- Build our capacity to capture and analyse energy data;
- Build our capacity for demand response to the energy market;
- Synchronise our diesel generation to improve business continuity and demand response;
- Pursue energy efficient equipment renewals and replacements;
- Invest in renewable energy generation;
- Adopt an integrated energy management & assets policy framework;
Our renewable energy infrastructure
We currently have solar, hydroelectric and biogas assets actively reducing our carbon footprint and operating costs. These assets contribute:
- Solar - producing 4,021 MWh per year
- Hydro - producing 2,200 MWh per year
- Biogas - producing 1,100 MWh per year
Our future investments will build upon our recent success with continued investment in renewable energy generators that provide strong financial and environmental benefits.
From 2023, we will be further expanding our renewable energy generation to the following capabilities:
- Solar - 2,288 MWh per year
- Hydro - 2,581 MWh per year
We also have embedded diesel generators operating across our sites.
Diversity in energy
Having a mix of energy generation assets helps us reduce our electricity costs and emissions while maintaining a reliable and affordable service.
We protect our service delivery during outages or weather events with embedded diesel generation across all our major sites. The generators are used on an as-needed basis to reduce carbon footprint whilst maintaining a reliable service for our customers.
The power produced by these additional diesel generators can be sold back to the grid during peak times.
This mix of generation assets helps us reduce our electricity costs and emissions while maintaining a reliable and affordable service.
An affordable and reliable energy supply is essential for the economic and environmental sustainability of our business as well as for continuity of service delivery to our customers.
We manage the trade-off between manageable costs, reliability of our services and carbon emissions through offsetting initiatives. Offsetting carbon emissions through native tree plantations at several of our properties allows us to fulfil our obligations to our customers and the environment.