There is “no question” that the ACT can become the renewable energy capital of Australia, says John Grimes, head of the Smart Energy Council, which this week published a survey of the Canberra industry.

“We already punch above our weight,” Mr Grimes said.

“We don’t have the advantages of the populations in Melbourne and Sydney, but we’re really smart and we’ve been strategic about seizing the opportunity. And so I’m very bullish about our place not just nationally, but indeed as a global leader in the space.”

The ACT has a huge comparative advantage because it was one of the first jurisdictions in the world – and the first in Australia – to achieve 100 per cent renewable energy.

“That has a flow-on effect,” Mr Grimes said. “It attracts the intellectual capital to the Territory, and creates the jobs and ecosystem that become a snowball effect.”

Somewhat to Mr Grimes’s surprise, the survey of more than 250 ACT employers revealed that there were more than 1,500 full-time renewables jobs in the ACT. (Indirect jobs in transportation, warehousing, and communication would be four times as much, he estimates.)

“It might be somebody at the Royalla solar farm, or it might be somebody selling and maintaining electric vehicles. It might be someone helping the mums and dads slash their power bills by much better energy efficiency, or the technician that’s inventing the solar technology of the future.”

Sixty-four per cent of jobs come from the public sector: 40 per cent in government and policy (the Clean Energy Regulator, the ACT Government, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency – ARENA, and the Departments of Industry, Agriculture, and Defence), and 24 per cent in training and research institutions (the ANU Institute for Climate, Energy and Disaster Solutions and CIT). 36 per cent come from the private sector.

Sixty full-time renewable jobs were currently advertised.

Mr Grimes expected that in three years, there would be two or three times as many renewables jobs, and by the end of the decade, renewables would be a major employer in the ACT.

“Taking action on climate is about creating good, long-term, good paying jobs for the ACT,” Mr Grimes said.

In its renewable energy reverse auctions, the ACT Government – “very smartly,” Mr Grimes thought – required winning components to set up their headquarters in Canberra, and make other investments.

Neoen, for instance, had to build a hydrogen refuelling station; others had funded training programs at CIT.

“That’s paying dividends in terms of jobs today,” Mr Grimes said.

ITP Renewables is one such success. It started off as a company of one 15 years ago; it now employs 30 people, said engineering manager Philippe McCracken. Its clients include the ACT Government and international development agencies. CIT hosts ITP’s battery test centre, funded by ARENA, which looks at the performance of residential, scale battery storage. ITP also recently finished the Distributed Energy Resources Lab at the ANU, which undertakes cutting-edge research into photovoltaics and batteries.

“Canberra’s reputation for being a centre of excellence for renewals is reinforced by what the research shows,” said Shane Rattenbury, ACT Minister for Water, Energy and Emissions Reduction.

The sector was becoming a self-sustaining ecosystem, Mr Rattenbury thought. There were now enough jobs where employees could work not just for one renewables company, but for different businesses.

“There’s not just a job, but there’s a career to be had in Canberra,” Mr Rattenbury said.

The ACT Government’s new energy efficiency improvement scheme would create more jobs, he thought; and partnerships with ARENA created the opportunity for the local private sector to partner with the government.

In years to come, Mr Rattenbury predicted more opportunities. The ACT would research and develop hydrogen technology, while the government was in in discussions with the Australian Energy Market Operator about sandbox projects here. 

“Canberra is big enough to test things, but small enough that if for some reason it doesn’t go quite right, it’s on a scale that’s not disastrous. It’s not Sydney.”

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