THOUSANDS of jobs could potentially come to the Southern Highlands under a proposal for regional Energy Service Agencies (ESA).
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Greens NSW MP John Kaye spent Saturday at Greens' stalls in Bowral and Moss Vale with Wollondilly candidate Patrick Darley-Jones and Goulburn candidate Iain Fife to talk about the party's vision for a secure energy future for NSW.
"The Southern Highlands is perfectly situated to play a significant role in the clean energy revolution," Mr Kaye said.
The party's vision is to stabilise household power bills, eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation and create tens of thousands of new jobs across NSW.
The centrepiece of that plan is the creation of 20 urban and regional ESA within the public sector to support the transition of households and small businesses from coal-based electricity and gas.
The estimated capital investment to bring a regional ESA to the Highlands is about $3 million. "The immediate cost is far less than the immediate and long-term cost of not making the change to renewable energy," Mr Kaye said.
The plan would see households that use gas receive a rapid transition to solar electricity and households with ineffective appliances given access to low interest, capital loans to replace those with low-energy, cost-efficient appliances.
"Households would be given assistance and advice to help them become solar generators and to maximise the money they make from selling the output of their panels," Mr Kaye said.
While the change to renewable energy would potentially remove hundreds of jobs in coal fired power stations and the coal mines that serve them, Mr Kaye said renewable energy would help bring thousands of new jobs to the Southern Highlands.
"University studies say that renewable energy across the state would bring 70,000 new jobs," he said.
"Renewable energy can locate jobs where there are high levels of youth unemployment.
"Part of what it is about is making sure every young person has access to skills training at TAFE so they have quality jobs to go to."
As a candidate, Mr Darley-Jones said public response to renewable energy had been encouraging.
"Everyone I talk to supports renewable energy," he said.
"One of the drivers, apart from cost reduction in electricity, is that people have realised that climate change is a shared problem and we need to do what we can to solve it.
"The Greens believe that setting up an ESA is a great investment in the future for the entire region."