How GreenPower works

What is GreenPower?
What does the GreenPower label mean?
Which generators have GreenPower accreditation?
Where are GreenPower accredited generators located?
What qualifies as ‘eligible’ renewable energy?
What is solar energy?
What is wind energy?
What is biomass?
How can burning biomass waste be considered renewable energy?
How are landfills and sewage treatment facilities used for energy?
What types of hydro power are included within GreenPower?
Where can I see examples of renewable energy generation?
Is renewable energy reliable? Is there enough to supply me?
Is sugar cane used to generate GreenPower?
Is palm oil used to generate GreenPower?

What is GreenPower?

GreenPower is renewable energy sourced from the sun, the wind, water and waste that is purchased by your energy company on your behalf.

Companies generate electricity at a range of sites across Australia and supply the electricity to a central power grid. Our homes and businesses are connected to this grid so we can access electricity.

Traditionally, electricity on the central grid comes from generators that burn coal. Only a small amount (about eight per cent) comes from renewable sources such as sun, wind, water and biomass waste.

Energy suppliers who sell accredited GreenPower products buy electricity generated from accredited renewable energy generators on your behalf and feed it into the National Electricity Grid. In Western Australia, the same applies to the South West Interconnected System

Only renewable energy products that display the GreenPower ‘tick’ are government accredited.

What is biomass?

What does the GreenPower label mean?

An accredited GreenPower product will always carry the ‘tick’ label. This accreditation label is supported and managed by governments throughout Australia. When you decide to purchase renewable energy make sure you look for the accredited GreenPower ‘tick’ label.

These labels tell you the amount of accredited GreenPower your energy retailer is purchasing on your behalf, as a percentage (10% – 100%) of your household’s electricity consumption. 100% means that your energy supplier purchases renewable energy from accredited GreenPower sources to the amount equal to all of your household’s electricity consumption.

Which generators have GreenPower accreditation?

Currently there are over 169 new renewable energy generators that are accredited under the GreenPower program. GreenPower only accredits companies that produce electricity from ‘eligible’ renewable energy resources.

List of GreenPower accredited generators (PDF 59KB)

To understand more about how renewable energy is processed you can read about a selection of GreenPower accredited renewable energy plants from around Australia by clicking on the examples below.

Albany Wind Farm, WA (PDF 800 KB)
Melbourne Water’s Western Treatment Plant, VIC (PDF 798 KB)
Terminal Storage Mini-hydro, SA (PDF 670 KB)
The Mugga Lane and West Belconnen landfills, ACT (PDF 727 KB)
Suncoast Gold Macadamias, QL (PDF 700 KB)

Where are GreenPower accredited generators located?

To find out where GreenPower generators are located in your state click on this link.

Interactive map of GreenPower accredited generators

What qualifies as ‘eligible’ renewable energy?

Renewable energy is energy that never runs out. Renewable energy is energy derived from sources that cannot be depleted or energy that can be replaced, such as solar, wind, biomass (waste), wave or hydro. Renewable sources don’t produce greenhouse gas pollution.

Eligible renewable resources include:

• solar power
• wind
• biomass (landfill gas, municipal solid waste, agricultural wastes, energy crops, wood wastes)
• hydro-electric power (small-scale or on existing dams)
• geothermal energy
• wave and tidal power.

Only wood waste sourced from existing sustainably managed forestry plantations and clearing of specified noxious weeds are eligible. Use of any materials from high conservation-value forests is not eligible.

Only crops grown on land cleared prior to 1990 are eligible under the GreenPower program.
 
Hydro-electric power projects must have adequate environmental flows. Projects that involve construction of new dams or diversion of rivers are not acceptable under GreenPower.

What is solar energy?

Solar energy is Australia’s largest energy resource: the average amount of solar energy that falls on Australia is about 15,000 times the nation’s energy use. The nature of solar energy, however, is that it is an intermittent and diffused source – it’s not available on cloudy days or at night - and it is not concentrated.

Solar thermal energy is that part of the solar spectrum that provides heat. Solar water heaters use solar thermal energy to heat water. Photovoltaic cells, known commonly as solar cells, convert the energy from sunlight into direct current electricity, which can be used as is or converted into alternating current similar to the electricity available from the grid.

What is wind energy?

Wind comes from the movement of air resulting from thermal gradients and the earth’s rotation. Depending on climatic conditions and surface topography, wind can vary significantly in intensity over a day, over a season, or over a year.

The basis of a successful wind energy facility - or wind farm - is to find a site which has a strong and steady wind. A good wind resource is usually characterised by an average wind speed of more than 6.5 metres per second (23 km/hr).

What is biomass?

Biomass is the term used to describe the generation of energy from organically based sources. The energy stored in plants or animals can be captured for energy generation by several different methods such as decomposition, combustion or gasification. Current GreenPower biomass generators include landfill gas, sewage gas and bagasse (sugar cane waste).

There are strict policies on the type of biomass energy that can be used within the GreenPower Program. Each generation project is assessed on a case-by-case basis depending on its impact on the environment and its acceptance by the community. For example, only sustainable plantation forestry sources are acceptable under the GreenPower Program - GreenPower is not sourced from old growth forests or regrowth native forests.

How can burning biomass waste be considered renewable energy?

Plant matter uses carbon dioxide (along with water and sunlight) through photosynthesis to grow. Burning this material converts the energy stored from the sun into electricity and produces carbon dioxide. Burning a renewable resource like plant matter instead of a non-renewable resource like fossil fuels such as coal has a net greenhouse benefit.  If plant matter is left to decay in landfill sites it produces methane gas which is 21 times worse than the carbon dioxide produced from burning it. In addition, most biomass projects use waste products from agricultural processes, such as bagasse from the sugar cane industry.

How are landfills and sewage treatment facilities used for energy?

Organic matter, like that found in rubbish tips, breaks down to produce methane gas. Capturing and burning this methane enables the generation of energy. This prevents methane escaping into the atmosphere, which has a huge positive impact on global warming because when you compare the individual impact of different greenhouse gases, methane traps 21 times more heat than carbon dioxide.

What types of hydro power are included within GreenPower?

Hydro-electric generators that are approved for use within GreenPower are those that have minimal impact on the surrounding environment, such as installing a generator in a fast flowing stream or fitting an existing dam or weir with a power generator. Hydro generators that involve the construction of new dams that divert water from one river to another or do not allow for adequate environmental flows are not approved within the GreenPower Program.

Where can I see examples of renewable energy generation?

Melbourne Water’s Western Treatment Plant (Werribee) (PDF 798 KB)
Albany Wind Farm (PDF 800 KB)
Suncoast Gold Macadamias (PDF 700 KB)
The Mugga Lane and West Belconnen landfills (PDF 727 KB)
Terminal Storage Mini-Hydro (PDF 670 KB)

Is renewable energy reliable? Is there enough to supply me?

All electricity produced from electricity generators (coal or renewable energy) are provided into an electricity grid. It is the grid operators that ensure reliability to customers, coordinating supply with demand - they gauge when certain generators are operating or idle. Therefore electricity from specific renewable energy generators does not directly go to individual houses and has no impact on reliability.

As demand for accredited GreenPower increases from customers, energy suppliers will buy more renewable energy from new renewable energy generators. Your investment in accredited GreenPower will feed more energy from clean renewable energy sources into the grid that services your home.

Is sugar cane used to generate GreenPower?

Yes, sugarcane waste (known as bagasse) is used to generate GreenPower. Bagasse refers to the fibrous residue of sugarcane stalks that remain after the cane is crushed to extract the juice.  This waste is burned in a boiler, which produces steam that passes through a steam turbine and generates electricity. This electricity is used in the plant and any excess is sold back to the local electricity grid.

Is palm oil used to generate GreenPower?

No, palm oil is not used to generate GreenPower.