low-carbon energy

The City of Sydney aims to remove its dependence on coal–fired electricity and increase its self sufficiency of low carbon energy and sustainable water supplies to and beyond 2030.

Centralised energy from Australia’s coal power electricity generation is currently responsible for 80% of the City of Sydney’s greenhouse gas emissions.  Conventional grid electricity is sourced from carbon intensive coal in a process involving high emissions intensity (over 1kg of CO2 for every 1kWh of electricity generated). The process is inefficient with about one-third of the energy being converted to electricity and two thirds lost through grid transmission and electricity distribution networks.

The Council plans to enable at least 330MWe of Combined Cooling Heat and Power or "trigeneration" around the City. In trigeneration, natural gas is burnt in an engine, with about 40% being converted to electricity. Heat is not lost but actually captured in the form of hot water, which is then used for heating or turned into cool water via a process called absorption chilling. The products are electricity, heating and cooling - hence the name 'trigeneration'.

The trigeneration plants will initially be fuelled by natural gas but designed to ensure that natural gas can be replaced by a renewable gas or fuel in the future, such as biogas or syngas or even methanol/hydrogen.

It is expected that trigeneration, when combined with other demand reduction measures, will provide approximately 70% of the electricity requirements for the City in 2030.  The balance of energy provision in the City will be delivered by renewable energy so that the City becomes near independent of coal fired centralised energy generation by 2030.

The City of Sydney is now focussed on understanding the best way to implement trigeneration across Sydney, and we will be working with selected consultants to develop a city-wide plan to identify the optimal size and location of trigeneration plants. It is expected that the upgraded Prince Alfred Park Pool in Surry Hills will be powered by trigeneration and we are also committed to implementing trigeneration at Town Hall House and using this to kick-start trigeneration across the precinct and creating a low-carbon zone.