Inner West Community Energy came together at the end of 2017, through mutual concern about climate change. The group was frustrated at the lack of action at a government level and determined to do whatever they could do make a difference.
Research revealed that Inner West Sydney, despite being an environmentally aware community has a very low uptake of solar. This seemed like an important issue to address. IWCE developed a system to provide practical advice to anyone wanting to go solar, connecting them with trusted installers and helping them work through the often-confusing questions that arise around installing solar.
Numerous inner west households have now been assisted and IWCE has learnt a lot about solving the types of problems that commonly arise for households in the area. Through community fund raising, IWCE has also installed a large scale community-owned solar array on the roof of sustainable restaurant, Acre Eatery. This is now up and running, delivering green power for 25% of Acre's electricity needs and providing an income stream to power more community energy projects in the Inner West.