Being prepared for grant releases throughout 2024 and the focus on renewables

Written by Jodi Cannon, Senior Manager Business Development & Engagement– Peak Services

Last week at the Local Government Finance Professionals annual conference, I listened to the session delivered by Josh Hannan, Deputy Director General – Local Government, Department of State Development, Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning, about the need to ‘plan and prepare’ for funding pools opening rapidly over the next 10 months. 

It was interesting to hear Josh talk about the plan for the state government to “release as many grants as possible” between now and September 2024, and how these grants would have short turnaround times so councils should be prepared to apply. This includes aligning your projects with strategic plans and ensuring your supporting documentation is up-to-date and ready to be included with your application. 

Josh also mentioned the focus on sustainability and energy and how councils need to consider energy efficient infrastructure upgrades and greener solutions. 

With the caretaker period commencing in January, it’s not too late to secure grant writing and energy advisory services to strategically prepare for the grant rounds that Josh indicated would be released. 

We have two services at Peak Services that can assist your council in both these areas: 

1. Grant Management / grant writing 

Our team of five dedicated grant writers have significant experience getting projects grant ready, the grants team includes project planners, economists, and criteria specialists. We can manage the process from concept to submit. Last year we had a 100% success rate in the Building our Regions program with almost 25% of the funding pool going to the 10 councils we worked with. This month alone (November), the grants team had over 20 successful Growing Regions EOIs equating to over $100M in projects. 

2. Energy Advisory 

We partner with councils to provide innovative products and complementary advisory services that reduce energy spend, provide tariff analysis, audit and design infrastructure for future council needs. Since 2016, we have conducted renewable energy feasibility studies on more than 320 sites from over 33 councils. The solar renewable energy feasibility studies across all 320 sites have estimated electricity cost savings of over $4.3 million per annum for councils. 

For more information on how we can assist with strategic preparation for grant releases and energy feasibility, send me an email and we can have a chat. 

Remember to consider your council policy during the caretaker period that will commence in January 2024. There’s still time to get the ball rolling so these services are implemented before then.