Bowen’s New Clean-Energy Triple Play
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
Encouraging changes are afoot as Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen this month not only announced an expansion of the national rooftop solar rebate scheme to include large-capacity business, factory, farm and school sites but also a new data centre policy that is likely to rule out gas-powered facilities.
Up to now, the federal solar rebate was capped at 100 kilowatts and focused largely on residential home rooftop systems. Speaking at the National Press Club in Canberra, Bowen announced the government will now expand the scheme to include installations as large as one megawatt, helping t
urn large, empty rooftops across the country into clean power sources.
The change targets Australia’s “missing middle,” where more than 80 gigawatts of commercial rooftop potential contrasts with just 5.6 gigawatts of solar installed. Bowen said is an enormous energy opportunity hiding in plain sight.
Bowen also announced that, rather than allow rapidly proliferating data centres to run on polluting gas, a soon-to-be-released government policy will require centres to bring additional renewable generation to operate — a smarter answer to rising electricity demand than locking in new gas dependence.
This approach could turn Australia’s digital boom into a catalyst for wind, solar and battery storage, giving stalled renewable energy projects the long-term customers they need while protecting households from extra pressure on the grid and higher power bills.
Finally, Bowen punctured the myth that coal-powered energy is providing “dependable baseload power” after a third year of daily power outages due to ageing coal power infrastructure. Renewable energy sources accounted for roughly 36% of Australia's total electricity generation, with specific regional grids like Tasmania and South Australia seeing renewable shares as high as 97.5% and 77%, respectively.
Bowen’s message was optimistic about the country’s energy future: Australia is on its way to building a cleaner, cheaper and more reliable energy system by transition to home-grown renewable energy and batter storage and new government initiatives will speed up the pace.
You can watch the full Bowen speech via the National Press Club.
