Community Solutions (ALEC)

As the peak envi­ron­men­tal advo­ca­cy organ­i­sa­tion for Cen­tral Aus­tralia, the Arid Lands Envi­ron­ment Cen­tre (ALEC) leads com­mu­ni­ty engage­ment activ­i­ties for the Future Grid project, as part of the ​“Com­mu­ni­ty Solu­tions” sub-project. 

Our ener­gy sys­tem is in tran­si­tion and com­mu­ni­ty involve­ment is essen­tial as Alice Springs moves towards a grid of the future.

In 2008, there were only two rooftop solar pow­er sys­tems in Alice Springs. Now in 2021, we are liv­ing up to our Solar City sta­tus with close to 3,000 rooftop systems.

A range of com­mu­ni­ty-focused activ­i­ties are part of the Alice Springs Future Grid project:

• A tri­al of what is expect­ed to be the North­ern Territory’s first res­i­den­tial Vir­tu­al Pow­er Plant (VPP).
• Com­mu­ni­ty edu­ca­tion ini­tia­tives; help­ing to ensure that res­i­dents are across the unique cir­cum­stances of the Alice Springs ener­gy sys­tem — and what is required to reach 50% renew­able ener­gy by 2030. 
• Com­mu­ni­ty ref­er­ence group; facil­i­tat­ing com­mu­ni­ty input and feed­back on Future Grid activities.
• Com­mu­ni­ty engage­ment activ­i­ties; includ­ing events, work­shops, infor­ma­tion stalls, sur­veys, whole-of-project com­mu­ni­ca­tions and an inter­ac­tive pres­ence on the Face­book page.
• Answer­ing your ques­tions via the Future Grid FAQs page. If you are curi­ous about some aspect of the Alice Springs elec­tric­i­ty sys­tem or the Future Grid project, sub­mit your ques­tion here. 
  
• Dis­crete activ­i­ties such as a low-socioe­co­nom­ic study which is aim­ing to help us under­stand how the renew­able ener­gy tran­si­tion in Alice Springs will impact those less well-off.