Thursday, 28 November 2024

Solar for Apartments program

Nina TAYLOR (Albert Park) (17:38): (968) My adjournment is for the Minister for Energy and Resources. The action I seek is for the Minister for Energy and Resources to visit my electorate of Albert Park to see the apartments that have recently been approved for the solar rebate. The Allan Labor government is helping Victorians living in apartments, whether they are owner-occupiers or renters, to take control of their energy bills with cheap solar energy. We have expanded our popular Solar for Apartments program, with an additional 5000 rebates now available in round 2. I was pleased to see this additional round. I know how popular the program was in the first round, especially in my community.

Everyone deserves to access the benefits of cheap solar power, but I have had a lot of feedback from locals about difficulties in installing solar panels on apartment buildings. Thankfully the Solar for Apartments program is helping to fix this by reducing up-front costs and streamlining the installation process. Solar for Apartments is helping 10,000 households, including owners and renters, to save money on the up-front cost of installing solar, cut their energy bills, improve the value of their apartments and reduce emissions. The program offers funding to install solar panels of up to $2800 per apartment or up to $140,000 per building covering up to 50 apartments. Government funding is otherwise available through our regular Solar Victoria rebate. By installing solar an average apartment household could save $500 a year on their electricity bills. This is also a great initiative for renters; about 12 per cent of Victoria’s 2.5 million households live in apartments, with about 63 per cent of these occupied by renters.

Thinking about New South Wales versus Victoria, Victoria is the only state that helps renters install solar, and I am pleased to see that 2024 has seen thousands of renters across the state slashing their energy bills with solar. I would like to thank work experience students Nicole De Valter and Rishika Ahuja for their support with this adjournment.