This study evaluates whether residential rooftop solar can serve as a preventative solution to energy insecurity among low- to moderate-income households.

Using a national, matched sample of solar and non-solar households based on detailed and address-specific data, we find that solar leads to large, robust and salient reductions in five indicators of energy insecurity.

Moreover, the benefits of solar ‘spill over’ to improve a household’s ability to pay other energy bills.

• an individual is unable to pay their electricity bill
• they receive a disconnection notice (46% less often)
• a reduction in the likelihood they reduce their energy consumption to save money on energy costs (15% less often)
• a reduction in the likelihood they forgo expenses on household necessities to pay an energy bill, and
• a reduction in the likelihood their home is kept at an uncomfortable temperature.

The results suggest that rooftop solar may be an effective tool for policymakers who seek to reduce energy insecurity.

Authors: Yozwiak, M.; Barbose, G.; Carley, S.; Forrester, S.; Konisky, D.; Memmott, T., et al. (2025). The effect of residential solar on energy insecurity among low- to moderate-income households. Nature Energy, 10(5), 569-580. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41560-025-01730-y Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1st561b6

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Some 90% of First Nations who responded to a recent Heat Survey say their homes get too hot and they're struggling to afford their energy bills.

First Nations are also twice as likely as others surveyed to seek heat-related medical attention.

As clean energy becomes an ever-bigger driver of economic development, job creation and net-zero progress globally, First Nations are increasingly front and centre of the transition. 

I really want to see us put renewables into remote community energy systems and reduce the amount of diesel that we’re burning. 

A fundraising campaign raised $150,000 for the installation of a solar power energy system on Mumuthumburru (West Island), a small community off the coast of the Northern Territory's gulf region.

The Australian government has announced it will incorporate First Nations benefit as one of the key principles in the Future Made in Australia Act. Federal Minister Chris Bowen MP also wants to see more First Nations jobs, and ownership of and equity in clean energy projects.

Access to energy is a fundamental right. Yet land critical to Australia’s aspirations for becoming a green energy superpower are among the worst served by today’s electricity retail regulations.

Waramungu elders from the Wilya Janta (Standing Strong) housing collaboration are raising funds for two demonstration homes to be built in Tennant Creek. The houses will be solar-powered, well-insulated and water efficient.

The $3 billion solar and green hydrogen project proposed for the East Kimberley region of Western Australia is based on a new partnership between three traditional owner groups, the Balanggarra people through the Balanggarra Ventures Corporation (a subsidiary of Balanggarra Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC), the Yawoorroong Miriuwung Gajerrong Yirrgeb Noong Dawang Aboriginal Corporation (MG Corporation), and Kimberley Land Council, with clean energy investor Pollination.

The three First Nations groups will each have an initial 25% share in the new company they've formed - Aboriginal Clean Energy, with Pollination also having a 25% share.

The East Kimberley Clean Energy project will see a ~ 2,000-hectare solar farm developed on MG Corporation freehold land near Kununurra. The resulting solar energy (approximately 1,000 megawatts) will be combined with water and hydro energy from the existing Ord Hydro Power Plant at Lake Argyle to produce green hydrogen. The green hydrogen will be transported by pipeline to Balanggarra Country in Wyndham where it will be converted to green ammonia. The green ammonia will be sold locally as a fertiliser for irrigated agriculture, and will also be exported.

The East Kimberley Clean Energy project was announced in July 2023. 

In March 2024 the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) committed $1.6 million towards a feasibility study for the project. 

As of August 2024, the Aboriginal Clean Energy partnership had delivered the first phase of the feasibility study, according to the project’s Workforce and Capacity Building Report.

The partnership is hoping to start construction in late 2025, with the first hydrogen produced by late 2028.