TWO ACT government initiatives have won awards at the national Cities Power Partnership Climate Awards.

On Thursday (August 29) the Next Gen Energy Storage Program was awarded the “Renewable Energy Achievement Award” and the government’s Energy Efficiency Improvement Scheme (EEIS) won the “Energy Efficiency Achievement Award”.

“This is fantastic recognition for two of the ACT’s key initiatives that are helping everyday Canberrans to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and save money on their energy bills,” says Climate Change Minister Shane Rattenbury.

“The Next Gen program offers attractive rebates for installing household batteries. Over 1200 solar batteries have been supported so far across the ACT, totalling more than 5 megawatts of smart energy storage for the region.

“The program has also enabled the world’s first, and one of the largest, residential virtual power plants. This groups together individual solar battery systems to sell energy back to the grid when it’s needed most, and delivering a return to households.

“Our EEIS has helped deliver energy saving solutions to over 74,000 ACT households and businesses since 2013. It has achieved a lifetime emissions reduction equal to taking almost 165,000 cars off Canberra roads for a year.”