This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
THE Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) will put $500,000 towards Climate-KIC Australia’s three-year study into the benefits of geothermal energy in the residential sector and greenfield estates, starting with Frasers Property Group’s masterplanned community Fairwater in western Sydney’s Blacktown.
Commercial-scale renewable ground-source heat pumps will be deployed at Fairwater to supply heating and cooling to its 800 new dwellings as part of the $1.7 million project.
Climate-KIC will lead the project team, which comprises University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Curtin University, Wattwatchers and the Green Building Council of Australia, with $180,000 each of funding as well as in-kind support over three years from the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, Frasers Property.
The project is based on the “living laboratories” concept of using existing buildings to evaluate energy efficiency and sustainability initiatives.
ARENA chief executive officer, Darren Miller said the project would demonstrate the potential of using geothermal energy to power households.
“Ground-sourced thermal energy being installed in new housing estates could reduce energy consumption and cost as well as benefiting the network by lowering peak demand and the associated need to invest in expensive infrastructure,” he said.
“If successful, this study could help demonstrate the value of geothermal energy to greenfield developers, potentially seeing further housing developments implement this renewable technology.”
Frasers Property Group executive general manager – residential, Anthony Boyd said, “this real-world research will provide important data for the industry to optimise the deployment of geothermal technology in communities of the future”.
“It’s the type of study that will help accelerate the pace of change the Australian property industry must embrace if, as a country, we are to meet our international climate change obligations.”
Climate-KIC Australia CEO Christopher Lee said the Fairwater Project represented a unique opportunity to measure, evaluate and understand the use of new technologies.
Australian Property Journal
