The Albanese Government is electrifying up to 20 student residential buildings in Australia's largest apartment electrification project as part of efforts to make student accommodation more comfortable to live in, while cutting energy bills and reducing emissions.
A $50 million investment with accommodation owner Scape Australia made by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) will remove gas infrastructure from up to 20 residential buildings across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide, reducing energy usage for more than 17,000 students.
This is the first Commonwealth-funded large-scale residential apartment electrification project.
It's practical climate action that reduces emissions, lowers costs and delivers better housing for students in the residential buildings in line with the Net Zero Plan.
This CEFC investment will also drive energy efficiency measures like improved insulation in new student accommodation and an energy metering pilot to better manage buildings' energy use, providing students with more comfortable homes.
The upgrades are informed by the Albanese Government's Built Environment Sector Plan which charts the improvements of energy performance in residential homes and commercial buildings.
Scape Australia is the purpose-built student accommodation arm of The Living Company (TLCo).
Quotes attributable to Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Josh Wilson:
"Electrifying residential accommodation is essential to the task of reducing emissions and future-proofing Australian homes; it also makes them cheaper to run and more comfortable to live in.
"As Australia's renewable, reliable and sustainable energy transition picks up speed, it's great to get behind a project that will benefit today's students as they complete their education while living in these newly electrified residential buildings.
"In advancing the decarbonisation of Australian apartments, the Albanese Government is delivering on its promise to act on climate change, which is what Australians, and especially young people, expect us to do."
