The aim of this activity is to help you understand:

• What renewable resources exist in your community?
• How much energy can these resources produce?
• How does that energy production compare to the energy your community uses?

1. Shortlist your likely options from the list below:

Abundant options:

• Solar
• Wind - abundant even with a low speed wind resource but it may not be cost-effective.

Options that may provide a smaller proportion of your community's needs:

* **Biomass** needs a concentrated source of burnable matter.

* **Biogas** needs a concentrated source of digestible matter.
* **Hydro** needs volume of water, preferably flowing down a substantial height difference.
* **Wave** is still being tested. You'll need waves and a user of energy nearby.
* **Tidal** needs a narrow inlet that traps tides and can be re-engineered to include turbines.
* **Geothermal** needs an underground heat source that is closer to the surface than normal, and a large heat user.

2. Understand the likely costs of your shortlisted options

Levelised cost of energy (LCOE) is the standard metric to compare renewable (and non-renewable) energy options. This step might help you reduce your shortlist further.

• You can edit this Energy Options slide to compare some of the community-scale options.

• The CSIRO GenCosts report provides cost-comparisons for large-scale renewables and is produced every year.

• IRENA renewable power costs The international renewable energy agency has a substantial database to keep track of renewable energy implementation costs.

3. Run some numbers to size each resource:

• To match energy consumption you will need a rough idea of what your community uses. This is how we calculated your energy consumption when you did the questionnaire. You can do this part of the exercise in more detail by following the steps to calculate your community statistics.

• Renewable Ninja will calculate wind and solar production for your location based on real weather data from 2019 or earlier.

• Use the calculators to get a rough guide for every resource on your shortlist.

4. Compare each resource and identify those you will investigate further:

• How does the size compare to your community's consumption? For wind and solar you can express these as the number of roofs or turbines needed to match your community's electricity use. For other renewables, express these as a proportion of total electricity use. Remember that electrification of heat and transport could almost double your community's consumption over time.

• How does the likely cost compare?

• Where could each renewable generator be located? Remember some can be household scale, some can be located near a group of houses or businesses. Some renewables can only be located at the resource. Larger generators need to be located on the medium voltage electricity system so will need a point to connect to the electricity network and adequate land for the project.

• How easy is it to develop this resource? How mature is the technology? and how much experience is there in Australia?

Further Resources

Ecocitizen renewable energy information: Useful information about Solar Power, Wind Power, Hydro Electric Power, Geothermal Energy, Wave, Ocean & Tidal Power and Biofuels