50. Believe Housing Australia/Anglicare, SA

Renewable Energy Project: Solar Panels

Believe Housing Australia is a nationally accredited tier one community housing provider with more than 20 years’ experience in delivering safe and secure social and affordable housing, and tenancy services. They own or manage more than 2,000 homes and support around 5,000 tenants who are mainly people on low incomes, including those who have experienced homelessness, young and older people, First Nations people, individuals living with disability and mental health issues, survivors of domestic violence, and people from non-English speaking backgrounds. Believe Housing Australia is part of the AnglicareSA family, which means tenants have access to a wide range of support services.

This project will install 13 solar systems on community housing for tenants who are experiencing significant cost of living pressures. The installation will include a Pulse® home monitoring system connected to a centralised monitoring and control system.

This innovative approach uses a patented hardware/software system that allows landlords to install solar and then sell the solar power to the tenants, at a rate that is much lower than grid costs, while Believe Housing Australia and Anglicare SA still receive income from the systems to pay off their loan. This addresses one of the major barriers to community housing organisations installing solar panels.

The Pulse® system includes an in-home display and smart device app which shows energy consumption and solar production in real time. The in-home display shows when excess solar power is available allowing residents to shift their energy use to make the most of their low cost solar electricity. This patented Australia innovation is a powerful tool which allows residents to reduce their carbon emissions and energy costs even further.

Partner Websites: https://believehousing.org.au/; https://anglicaresa.com.au/; https://369labs.com.au; & https://beatenergy.com.au/