Ausgrid is pleased to announce CORENA as our community partner. CORENA is a not-for-profit group that funds practical projects that achieve carbon emissions that would otherwise be unlikely to happen. They have funded 45 projects ranging from energy efficiency to solar and electric vehicles. Their goal is to provide a practical and effective way for ‘the people’ to collectively fund new renewable energy installations and to ‘electrify everything’.
CORENA choose projects that not only reduce carbon emissions cost-effectively but also reduce operating costs. This means that an interest-free loan is sufficient to enable a project to proceed, and the resultant savings on operating costs cover the loan repayments back into a revolving fund. In this way donated funds are used repeatedly in subsequent projects.
One of their largest projects was the installation of a 99.4kW solar system at the Robert Menzies College in NSW. CORENA provided over 50% of the funding and the project is already saving some 78,419 kWhs and approximately $12,385 per year. This is a great example of the CORENA model and they are looking to fund many more projects within the community over the coming years.
Margaret Hender CORENA founder said:
“CORENA’s goal has always been to empower everyday people by enabling them to achieve carbon emissions right now via our revolving fund”.