Australia is on the cusp of building more renewable infrastructure in the next decade than in the previous three combined, but the way we build it could make or break regional communities. One of the biggest challenges isn’t turbines or a transmission towers, it’s housing: where will thousands of construction workers live in towns already in a housing crisis. A new report from RE-Alliance argues worker accommodation doesn’t have to be a burden — it can become an important community benefit that a project leaves behind. From refurbishing disused aged-care homes in Wellington, to turning workforce villages into future suburbs in Rockhampton and Gracemere, to councils like Uralla planning for housing long before the workers arrive, there’s a shift happening in how some developers think about construction. RE-Alliance’s national director, Andrew Bray, discusses how the energy transition can bring a once-in-a-generation opportunity.
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Australia is on the cusp of building more renewable infrastructure in the next decade than in the previous three combined, but the way we build it could make or break regional communities. One of the biggest challenges isn’t turbines or a transmission towers, it’s housing: where will thousands of construction workers live in towns already in a housing crisis. A new report from RE-Alliance argues worker accommodation doesn’t have to be a burden — it can become an important community benefit that a project leaves behind. From refurbishing disused aged-care homes in Wellington, to turning workforce villages into future suburbs in Rockhampton and Gracemere, to councils like Uralla planning for housing long before the workers arrive, there’s a shift happening in how some developers think about construction. RE-Alliance’s national director, Andrew Bray, discusses how the energy transition can bring a once-in-a-generation opportunity.
The power of good rules – how regulation builds trust in the energy transition
SwitchedOn Australia
44 minutes 23 seconds
2 weeks ago
The power of good rules – how regulation builds trust in the energy transition
This week’s hearings of the Senate inquiry on information integrity on climate and energy revealed how deeply divided the national conversation about renewables has become. Even as Australia accelerates the rollout of new transmission lines, solar farms and wind projects, many regional communities feel that change is happening to them, not with them. Professor Sara Bice from the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University has spent years studying how governments, industry and communities can collaborate to deliver large-scale infrastructure in ways that are fair, transparent and socially sustainable. Her research shows that while most Australians support the energy transition, they want it to be fair and just — and that the number one driver of public acceptance for new infrastructure isn’t technology or money, but confidence in the regulation that governs it.
SwitchedOn Australia
Australia is on the cusp of building more renewable infrastructure in the next decade than in the previous three combined, but the way we build it could make or break regional communities. One of the biggest challenges isn’t turbines or a transmission towers, it’s housing: where will thousands of construction workers live in towns already in a housing crisis. A new report from RE-Alliance argues worker accommodation doesn’t have to be a burden — it can become an important community benefit that a project leaves behind. From refurbishing disused aged-care homes in Wellington, to turning workforce villages into future suburbs in Rockhampton and Gracemere, to councils like Uralla planning for housing long before the workers arrive, there’s a shift happening in how some developers think about construction. RE-Alliance’s national director, Andrew Bray, discusses how the energy transition can bring a once-in-a-generation opportunity.
