Brisbane City Council will award a 15-year contract to a company to provide renewable energy to the city, Lord Mayor Graham Quirk has confirmed.
The plan will include electricity produced by biomass, solar, hydro-electric and wind generators and the contract details will be announced next month.
Electricity generated from these green sources would power street lights, council buildings and offices, libraries, and community centres.
The council announced in March it had received bids from 20 firms and said the final decision would be made in June.
Cr Quirk said the contract would be ratified in today’s $2.9 billion council budget and heads a range of green initiatives.
The renewable energy contract will help reduce Brisbane’s carbon footprint to half of its 2000 emission levels.
“Importantly, we are set to commit to a long-term contract to provide a guarantee of renewable electricity supply at stable prices as a buffer against future price increases,” Cr Quirk said.
“We are on track to achieve our 2012 target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to half of our carbon footprint from the year 2000.”
The council now spends $5 million each year buying electricity from green energy sources.
By 2026, Brisbane City Council wants to provide all its energy requirements from renewable energy generation.
The renewable energy contract will be a catalyst for a private sector firm to build a renewable energy plant in southeast Queensland because they have an assured market supply.
Council’s electricity purchase was almost 100 gigawatt hours in 2010, which is enough to power everything from street lights to council buildings.
Today’s budget includes $21 million for the Bushland Acquisition Program, up from $19.8 million last year, which will acquire 500 hectares of bushland.
About $4 million will be spent on the two million trees project, similar to the $3.8 million set aside in last year’s budget.
An extra 1700 shade trees will be planted to create neighbourhood shade ways at a cost of $2.35 million.
In other Green Heart programs, $433,000 will be spent to educate homes to live more sustainably, and $100,000 will target tenants in large office buildings to save power.
